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Sure, pancakes seem innocuous. It’s hard even to imagine a world where they could be used as rage bait. But TikTok creator Archived Chef (@archivedchef) managed to start a social media firestorm by sharing a recipe for “scrambled pancakes.” Following the familiar internet formula, Archived Chef opened her TikTok by saying, “Don’t take this the wrong way, but you’ve been making pancakes wrong your whole life. Did you know that you’re supposed to scramble them?”
Just as you might scramble eggs, Archived Chef (who reportedly prefers to remain anonymous) pours pancake batter into a pan, breaking it up with a spatula as it cooks. Once golden brown, she piles the pieces on a plate and tops them with icing sugar, whipped cream, blueberries and syrup. If you watch to the end of the one-minute, one-second video, you’ll learn that the whole thing was a joke. “Psych. Do not try this, and it was not good.”
As outraged as some TikTok users seemed by the concept of scrambled pancakes — commenting, “I would never disrespect pancakes in that way” and “This is a crime” — just as many were intrigued. One asked astutely, “How can it not be good?” To which the creator replied, “The texture was weird.”
Others noted how smart it was to break a pancake into bite-sized pieces in the pan since you’ll cut it on the plate anyway. Some suggested adding milk for “pancake cereal” and pointed out the similarities with an Austrian dessert classic, kaiserschmarrn, enjoyed throughout the former Austria-Hungary, known as trhanec in Czechia and šmorn in Slovenia.
“Of all Austrian desserts, this imperial one reigns supreme,” Milan-based, Windsor, Ont.-born author Meredith Erickson said in a 2019 interview with National Post. “It’s on all Alpine menus in Austria.” The kaiserschmarrn options are endless, as she highlights in her cookbook, Alpine Cooking. Add raisins, finely grated lemon zest, thin slices of apple or pitted and halved cherries to the batter before you pour it into the pan.
Erickson’s version, “a jumble of buttery shredded pancake generously dusted with confectioners’ sugar,” is a step up from the TikTok riffs. She splashes it with rum and sets it aflame before serving it warm straight from the frying pan with apple compote and cranberry jam.
As it turns out, Archived Chef’s viral scrambled pancake originated in the Alpine specialty. The creator told Today that she got the idea for the video when she saw a version of kaiserschmarrn on Pinterest. “I just decided to make a twist with it using American pancake batter instead,” she said. “I mainly posted as a joke; it wasn’t meant to be like a serious recipe.”
After being put off by her scrambled pancakes’ “very chewy, dense and tough” texture, Archived Chef revised the method in a cinnamon sugar version. For her follow-up recipe, she browns the pancake before flipping and scrambling, which is more in line with the technique for kaiserschmarrn. “It turned out so good — and no, I’m not lying this time.”
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