Trhanec

The story

The Wednesday before Easter has an unflattering name in Czech: Škaredá středa, Ugly Wednesday. In 2027 it falls on March 24. Old Czech food customs matched the name, and Czech writers describe what housewives served that day as ugly food: pancakes torn into ragged pieces instead of neat rounds. The savory kind was close to bramboráky, the Czech potato pancakes, and the sweet kind was called trhanec, the torn pancake. One Czech food writer wonders whether the custom simply made a virtue of necessity. The same Wednesday was also the traditional day for baking jidáše, the yeast buns eaten with honey on Green Thursday. Trhanec is a close relative of the Austrian Kaiserschmarrn, and Czech food writers admit that the stories about how a torn pancake reached the table of Emperor Franz Joseph, involving Empress Sisi or an angry cook, cannot be confirmed. The Holy Week version here follows a recipe published in Czech for the old Easter menu, with apples cooked in caramel and toasted hazelnuts. Serve it as a sweet supper after a light soup, or as dessert with coffee.