Kaiserschmarrn

Kaiserschmarrn, or as it translates, Emperor’s mess, is an ideal dish to make if, like me, presentation isn't your strong point. You make a thick pancake, tear it up, and re-fry the pieces. So there is no problem if you break it when you flip it, because you are tearing it up anyway.

This was the first time I have had or made Kaiserschmarrn, so I don't know if this was the best recipe I could have picked. Having looked at a few recipes, I noticed many people commenting recommended that the egg whites should be whisked to make the batter lighter, so the recipe I went for was this one from the Bavarian kitchen. As I said, I don't have anything to compare it to, but I liked the result.

The recipe from the Bavarian kitchen served it with a blueberry sauce, but for my first taste of Kaiserschmarrn I wanted to try it with the more traditional accompaniment of Zwetschkenröster, a plum compote. It was actually hard to find a recipe in English, so one of my friends translated a German recipe for me. This was the recipe I used, but to give it a brief translation :

Take 1 kilo of plums, and remove the stones. Leave the small ones whole, and quarter any large ones (mine were all of average size, so I halved most of them). Put 150g of sugar in a saucepan, and heat to turn it into caramel. Do not stir or agitate the pan, and don't let the caramel burn. Add the plums and a cinnamon stick. Some of the caramel will solidify again- don't worry, cook on a medium high heat for about 5 minutes and it will turn to a syrup. Stir occasionally. Add a shot of rum, and serve hot.

Germknödel and Custard

I am always on the lookout for new recipes, and have a ever-growing list of dishes to try at some undetermined point in the future. As soon as I saw this recipe for sweet, steamed jam filled dumplings, I had to make them- normally I  shop around for a recipe, to find the something perfect. But I was cold, hungry, and utterly seduced by the idea of dumplings, custard and a sweet poppy seed butter in one dish. And they have become one of my favourite puddings-something for a cold day, when you are enjoying a cold day indoors with the sort of friends who are willing to give you a hand with mixing dough or heating up custard, or even just chat while you shape and fill the buns.

My knowledge of Austrian cuisine really only goes so far as germknödel. But as far as introductions go, they make a spectacular one. The name germknödel, and their English description of jam dumpling evokes a heavy stodgy dish- in fact they are surprisingly light- in terms of taste, at least.

Germknodel for three.

The recipe came from a Guardian article 'The 10 Best Dumpling Recipes', which is as good as it sounds. If you want to make your own custard, I recommend Delia's recipe- it is very good. However, the dumpling recipe is quite involved, so I think good shop bought custard would be a perfectly acceptable accompaniment.

The dough after proving- it is very soft and silky, and really nice to work with!