With Kaiser Franz Josef I comes a veritable feast of apocryphal tales. Take these examples of the origin story behind one of his favourite desserts, Kaiserschmarrn: a thick, sturdy pancake that, once cooked, is cut up in the pan into bitesize pieces, mixed with raisins, and served with icing sugar and some kind of fruit compote, usually apple or plum. That the emperor was on a hunting trip in the Salzkammergut when he first sampled a more rustic version of the dish named Holzfällerschmarrn. That one day one of the royal cooks made the pancake batter for Palatschinken too thick, and in an attempt to rescue their efforts, tore and cut up the pancakes to make a Schmarrn. That the dish was in fact first created for the Empress Sisi, who had problems with her teeth and a smaller appetite than the emperor, as Kaserschmarrn. That the dish was created for Sisi as Kaiserinschmarrn, but since the emperor preferred the dish more than his wife did, it was renamed Kaiserschmarrn.
This bounty of tall tales is illustrative of the fact that the true nineteenth century origin story of Kaiserschmarrn remains unknown. We do know that, for centuries, farmers, especially those living in and around the southern Alps, ate a similar dish made from milk, eggs, flour, and fat, and that, in becoming a dish fit for the Kaiser, Kaiserschmarrn was made richer, eggier, fattier, and adorned with raisins and icing sugar. (This journey from peasant staple to aristocratic delicacy is not dissimilar to that experienced by the Krapfen at around the same time.) We also know that the name Kaiserschmarrn either grew out of older dishes named Kaserschmarrn (Kaser meaning cheesemaker, indicative of its rural origins) or Casaschmarrn, (Casa meaning, well, house). Aside from that, it's all up for grabs. Where and when Franz Josef first ate the dessert that would come to bear his title is, for now, just speculation.
