For the Historical Food Fortnightly challenge 19 – Ethnic Foods, I made two Austrian desserts: Salzburger Nockerl and Kaiserschmarrn. Both recipes are original Victorian recipes: from the 1840s and 1850s. I’ve often made modern Salzburger Nockerl and Kaiserschmarrn, but I’ve never made the original historical recipes – so I was curious how they’d taste compared to the modern recipe versions. 😀

 

Victorian Salzburger Nockerl

Salzburger Nockerl is an Austrian dessert. Today, Salzburger Nockerl are a souffle made with egg yolks and whites, flour, vanilla sugar, and cranberry jam. But original Victorian Salzburger Nockerl were completely different: Victorian Salzburger Nockerl are small choux pastry dumplings with custard sauce. Below are three 1840s Austrian Salzburger Nockerl recipes:

 

 

Victorian Salzburger Nockerl Recipes

Salzburger Nockerl – Viennese Soufflé-Pudding (Modern Cookery For Private Families, 1845)

• 115g/ 4 oz butter
• 85g/ 3 oz sugar
• 40 – 55g/ 1.5 – 2 oz flour
• 8 egg yolks
• 8 egg whites
• about 1.4l/ 3 lbs milk
• 2 egg yolks
• some vanilla sugar

 

Salzburger Nockerl (Die erfahrne Wiener Mehlspeisköchin, 1849/ Die wahre Kochkunst, 1820)

• 1 Seitel (350ml) cream
• 1 Loth (17.5g) butter
• enough flour to make a thick batter
• 6 egg yolks and 3 beaten egg whites
• a pinch of salt
• 2 Loth (35g) sugar
• some vanilla powder
• 1 Seitel (350ml) cream to boil the dumplings in
• 6 egg yolks
• the cream in which the dumplings were boiled
• some vanilla sugar

 

Salzburger Nockerl (Wiener Küchen Calender für das Schaltjahr 1848)

• 1 Seitel (350ml) water
• 4 Loth (70g) butter
• 1 Seitel flour
• 3 eggs and 3 egg yolks
• a pinch of sugar and salt
• 1 Maß (1.4l) milk to boil the dumplings in
• some vanilla sugar
• some egg yolks

 

I combined the two Victorian Salzburger Nockerl recipes above, so here’s the recipe I made:

Salzburger Nockerl Recipe

• 350ml water
• 70g butter
• 190g flour
• 3 eggs and 3 egg yolks
• 35g homemade vanilla sugar
• a pinch of salt
• 500ml half water/ half soy milk (you can also use milk)
• 4 egg yolks
• 3 tbsp homemade vanilla sugar

Make a choux pastry: Boil water, butter, salt and sugar. When boiling, stir in the flour. When still warm, beat in the egg and egg yolks.

Bring the soy milk-water (or milk) to a boil. Make small dumplings with two teaspoons and boil them for some minutes in the milk.

When the dumplings rise to the top, they’re ready.

Put the dumplings into a glass baking dish. Optional: Preheat the oven to 180°C.

Make a custard sauce with the remaining soy-milk-water, egg yolks and vanilla sugar.

Pour the custard sauce over the dumplings. Serve them immediately or put them for some minutes into the oven. The recipe says to put the Salzburger Nockerl into the oven, but it’s not necessary when they’re served immediately.

Sprinkle with sugar before serving (this is optional as the Salzburger Nockerln are already sweet enough).

The Victorian Salzburger Nockerln are delicious but quite unlike modern Salzburger Nockerl which are equally delicious. When I read the recipe, I thought the Victorian Salzburger Nockerl would take long and be difficult to make. But now after I tried it out, I can say: The Victorian Salzburger Nockerl take a bit longer than modern Salzburger Nockerl, but they’re not difficult to make.

 

 

 

Victorian Kaiserschmarrn

Kaiserschmarrn – Emperor’s Mess – is an Austrian dessert or sweet lunch, a shredded pancake named after Franz Joseph I, Emperor of Austria (1830-1916). Originally, Schmarrn was an Austrian poor man’s food, sometimes just made with flour and milk. But Kaiserschmarrn is more fancy: made with eggs, flour, cream and butter.

Kaiserschmarrn was made in a ‘Rein’ – a skillet or frying pan with three legs – over open fire. Here’s a picture of a 19th century three legged skillet. Sometimes Schmarren (1849 Recipe: Abgetriebener Schmarren) was baked in a pan with closed lid and coals on top, similar to Dutch oven cobbler.

I decided to make the Victorian Kaiserschmarrn over an open fire, just like the recipes says. Instead of a ‘Rein’, I used a Dutch oven without the lid.

My dog was always close by the fire to help with the cooking. 😉

 

Victorian Kaiserschmarrn Recipes

Feiner Mehlschmarren – Delicious Shredded Flour Pancake (Die erfahrne Wiener Mehlspeisköchin, 1849)

• 6 tbsp flour
• 6 egg yolks
• enough cream to make a thin batter
• vanilla powder
• a pinch of salt
• 4 Loth (ca. 70g) butter
• 6 egg whites
• 140g butter for the pan

 

Ein Ordinärer Mehlschmarren – Common Shredded Flour Pancake (Allerneuestes allgemeines Kochbuch, 1831)

• 1 Seidel* (ca. 350ml) milk
• 8 eggs
• 1 Seidel* flour
• 140g lard for the pan

* ‘Seidel’ is an Austrian unit of liquid volume, equal to about 350 ml/ 12 US fl oz.

 

 

Bauernschmarren oder Holzknechtmus – Peasant Shredded Pancake or Lumberjack Roux Pudding (Neuestes vollständiges Kochbuch, 1851)

• flour
• a pinch of salt
• enough simmering milk to make a thin batter
• lard for the pan

 

Original Victorian Kaiserschmarren (Neuestes vollständiges Kochbuch, 1851)

• bit less than 1/2 Seidel (175ml) cream
• 2 tbsp flour
• a pinch of salt
• 3 eggs
• butter for the pan

 

I tried out two of the above recipes, one is adapted slightly to make it dairy-free.

Dairy-free Victorian Kaiserschmarrn Recipe

• 175ml half soy milk and half water (you can also use milk)
• 100g flour
• a pinch of salt
• 4 eggs
• 70g butter for the pan (I used ca. just half of the butter)

 

Victorian Kaiserschmarrn Recipe With Cream

• 160 ml cream
• 2 or 3 tbsp flour
• a pinch of salt
• 3 eggs
• butter for the pan

 

Make a thin pancake batter with milk (cream), flour and salt; then stir in the eggs. Melt butter in a skillet. Bake the Kaiserschmarren until golden brown, turn over and bake the other side until golden brown.

Then tear the pancake into pieces and sprinkle with sugar.

Both Victorian Kaiserschmarrn were delicious, and very easy to make – a perfect campfire dessert.