August  18

Emperor Franz Joseph's Birthday
 
 

Franz Josef was born in 1830. At the age of eighteen he became Hapsburg Emperor and in 1867, ruler of Austria-Hungary. He was emotionally insensitive and led a life of myopic devotion to duty and a constant exercise of form and style that was rnasquerading a deep sadness.

Franz Joseph has much to be sad about. On February 18, 1853, he survived an assassination attempt by Hungarian nationalist János Libényi. His brilliant wife, Elizabeth (Sissi), one of the most beautiful women in Europe,  was assassinated by an anarchist in Geneva (1897). Their first daughter Sophie died as an infant. His son, Crown Prince Rudolf,  kept his suicide/death pact with his lover Baroness Mary Vetsera at the hunting lodge of Mayerling in 1889.

Following the Rudolf's suicide,  Franz Joseph had many arguments with his nephew and heir,  Archduke Franz Ferdinand, who was assassinated by Serbian nationalists on June 28,.1914 in Sarajevo.  The assassination precipitated a crisis which led to the outbreak of World War I and the subsequent dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Franz Joseph
 


Although Franz Joseph's deep love for Vienna provided the intellectual, artistic and social atmosphere that produced  Brahms,  Mahler, Strauss,  Klimt,  Kokoschka, Schiele, Schnitzler, and Freud, he disliked music, never read anything, except government reports, and had no interest in art. He might have benefited from being psychoanalyzed by Freud for his lack of emotions and what was almost a sexual fetish for uniforms.

Franz Joseph almost always wore a uniform, which had a high collar that almost completely enclosed the neck. It so happened that the collar of his uniform was made out of very sturdy material. Even though the Emperor was wounded and bleeding from assassination attempt by János Libényi, this stiff collar saved his life. which may in part explain his uniform fetish. He has been portrayed in films by Karlheinz Böhm in the Sissi  trilogy (1955) and James Mason in Mayerling (1968), and by Christian Tramitz (voice) in the 2007 animated film Lissi und der wilde Kaiser.

The emperor had to diet to maintain his slim, athletic figure. Dieting was a constant concern because Franz Joseph loved his schnitzel, strudel, and schnapps. His worry about calories made him forego the Viennese passion for schlag (whipped cream), but he often indulged in his favorite dessert, pancakes with brandied fruit. This dessert became the Viennese classic, Kaiserschmaren (Emperor's fluff).		  
   

Kaiserschmaren
(Emperor's Fluff)
 

  
ingredients
 		  
1/ 4 cup white raisins
1/4 cup cognac
4 egg yolks
3 TB sugar
pinch of salt
1/4 tsp vanilla
 		 1 tsp cognac
1 tsp orange zest
1 cup flour
6 egg whites at room temperature
4 TB unsalted butter
1/4 cup confectioners' sugar
 		  
Instructions
 		  
  1. Soak raisins in cognac for 30 minutes. Drain and squeeze the raisins dry. Leave the the cognac in a cup.
  2. Add egg yolks, sugar, and salt together in a bowl.. Beat until mixture thickens and turns pale yellow.
  3. Stir in milk, vanilla,  cognac, and  zest. Gradually beat in flour, 1/4 cup at a time, until mixture turns into a smooth batter. Stir in raisins.
  4. In another bowl, beat egg whites until stiff. Take 1/4 cup of batter and fold it into egg whites. Then take egg whites and carefully fold them completely into batter. Don't overfold.
  5. Melt 1 TB butter in 8" skillet. Pour in half of batter. Cook over low heat for 4 - 5 minutes until edges begin to brown. With the aid of a spatula, carefully slide pancakes onto a plate uncooked side up.
  6. Melt another TB of butter in pan. Slide pancake back into pan, uncooked side down. Cook for another 4 - 5 minutes.
  7. Take 2 forks and pull pancake apart in 6 pieces. Remove to a warn plate and sprinkle with sugar. Repeat procedure with balance of batter. Serve with brandied fruit or plum preserves.