Some call it rage bait, but this social media chef says scrambled pancakes started as a fun kitchen experiment.
On June 11, TikToker Archived Chef (@archivedchef) posted a video to her account that got thousands and thousands of people talking. In the clip, which has amassed more than 20 million views, the home cook sarcastically instructs her audience to make a peculiar riff on a breakfast staple.
“Don’t take this the wrong way but you’ve been making pancakes wrong your whole life,” the creator said in her now-viral clip. “Did you know that you’re supposed to scramble them just like how you would scramble eggs?”
The TikToker first pours pancake batter onto a nonstick pan before quickly flipping over the lightly browned flapjack and breaking it apart with a spatula, forming pancake pieces in various shapes and sizes.
“It’s so much easier this way, you don’t have to worry about getting the perfect circle or whatever,” she says, tossing the bits of cooked dough around in her pan.
She says to make sure most of the pieces are golden brown before plating. “I added powdered sugar, whipped cream, blueberries and, of course, some syrup on top,” the TikToker continued. “As you can see, it even looks much better than regular pancakes would. Like, tell me that does not look good.”
The Scene
As it turns out, Archived Chef was spoofing viewers the whole time.
“Psych! Do not try this and it was not good,” she said, to close out the video as syrup dribbled down a mountain of pancake rubble. “Whoever told me to try it and said it was good, may your toes always find their way to the corners of your table. Goodbye.”
Get a weekly recap of the latest San Francisco Bay Area housing news. Sign up for NBC Bay Area’s Housing Deconstructed newsletter.
Many folks took to the comment section to share their own strong feelings about the dish.
“Who hurt you?” asked one TikToker. “This is a crime 😭😭😭😭,” wrote another, with someone else adding, “not sure if this is an abomination or pure genius.”
“Yo, some of these things that people be doing on TikTok just be killing me,” TikTok user @thelovelynini said in a video under the hashtag #why. “Because why are we scrambling our pancakes? Why is that happening?”
Even the official Eggo account was inspired to weigh in: “Scrambling pancakes is WILD.”
Conversely, there were some folks in the comments who said they want to try out the unique breakfast hack.
“Honestly this is kinda genius.. it’s kinda like mini pancakes,” said one TikTok user.
“RECIPE PLEASE,” begged a commenter as another said it “looks like funnel cake” with it’s small fluffy bits piled high. “Funnel cake is 100x better,” Archived Chef replied.
One user pointed out that it “seems smart for babies starting solids so you don’t have to cut it up into tiny pieces.”
Many of the comments also noted the dish’s similarity to kaiserschmarrn, an Austrian dish consisting of pancakes that are cut and torn while cooking and served with powdered sugar, fruit, jam or other toppings. One commenter also added that the dish is also enjoyed in Slovenia where it’s called šmorn.
Archived Chef, who asked to remain anonymous, confirms that she first saw a version of kaiserschmarrn on Pinterest.
“I just decided to make a twist with it using American pancake batter instead,” Archived Chef tells TODAY.com over the phone. “I mainly posted as a joke, it wasn’t meant to be like a serious recipe.”
Her version of the dish is not a new thing on TikTok, either — similar videos under #ScrambledPancakes have been posted as early as 2021.
The TikToker, says she was inspired to post the clip after tasting breakfast, which she says was very chewy, dense and tough in texture. “That’s why I said what I said at the end,” she added. “It wasn’t how I expected it to turn out.”
The social media creator says she worked out some of the kinks and, in a follow-up video, she made a brown sugar and cinnamon version. This time, she instructed viewers to brown the first pancake side before flipping and scrambling, which is very similar to the instructions for how to make kaiserschmarrn.
“It turned out so good — and no, I’m not lying this time,” Archived Chef said in the newer video.
Eggo commented again saying, “Loving this new method 💛.”
Overall, Archived Chef is surprised her first video went viral. But what she’s not surprised about is her daughter’s criticism. At 4 years old, the kiddo refuses to try any version of scrambled pancakes.
“She was so confused,” Archived Chef says of when she made the dish. “She was like, ‘No, that’s not pancakes.’”
This article first appeared on TODAY.com. Read more from TODAY here:
