Bisquick

Bisquick is a pre-made baking mix containing flour, shortening, baking powder and salt that acts as a shortcut for making a variety of baked goods. It can be used to quickly make pancakes, biscuits, muffins and dumplings, among other recipes, by simply adding a liquid, like milk or eggs and other ingredients.

It is manufactured by General Mills under the Betty Crocker brand and is also available as a homemade version. According to General Mills, Bisquick was invented in 1930 after one of their top sales executives met an innovative train dining car chef, on a business trip. After the sales executive complimented the chef on his deliciously fresh biscuits, the dining car chef shared that he used a pre-mixed biscuit batter he created consisting of lard, flour, baking powder and salt. The chef then stored this pre-mixed biscuit batter on ice in his kitchen, enabling him to bake fresh biscuits quickly on the train every day. As soon as the sales executive returned from that business trip, he “created” Bisquick.

The recipe was adapted, using hydrogenated oil, thus eliminating the need for refrigeration. Bisquick was officially introduced on grocers' shelves in 1931. Though first promoted for only baking biscuits ("90 seconds from package to oven", the slogan read), Bisquick was soon used to prepare a wide variety of baked goods from pizza dough to pancakes to dumplings to snickerdoodle cookies.