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Perfect Biscuit Maker with Bisquick.”

That dated marketing scheme, messaging women that their Bisquick biscuits could beat their mother-in-law’s and their husbands would never know the difference, cleverly propelled the product for decades. Furthermore, Bisquick’s invention led to other instant products made by the rapidly growing Minneapolis food giant General Mills.

The home of Gold Medal Flour, General Mills began as the Washburn Crosby flour milling company that grew up along the banks of the Mississippi River in Minneapolis starting in 1866. Inventions like Bisquick and cold cereals, Cheerios and Kix, revolutionized the way America was eating. That change all started with Carl Smith.

This early newspaper ad shows a beaming young bride sitting down to dinner with her husband and her gray-haired mother-inlaw. The man has just complimented his mother on her delicious baked biscuits.

“They must have taken you hours to make,” he says. Oh, but he is so wrong, as husbands often are.

“Your wife made these,” his mother says. “She whipped them up in just 90 seconds.”

The caption under the photo reads: “NOW! Anybody is a

Smith was a traveling sales executive for General Mills. One late evening in 1930 he was on his way to San Francisco and was hungry. The restaurant was closed but Smith, a smooth talking salesman, convinced the tired chef to make something quickly that was not too much trouble. In short order the chef served up a plate of piping hot, delicious biscuits.

When Carl asked how the chef had produced them so quickly the chef revealed his secret. It was a pre-mixed blend of lard, baking powder, flour and salt that he stored in an “ice chest,” we would call that a refrigerator today. Using the batter, the chef was able to bake up delectable homemade biscuits in just a matter of minutes instead of hours.

In the 1930s this was a totally new concept. Instant cake, muffin, cookie and biscuit mixes didn’t exist. At least not until Carl Smith gets back to Minneapolis where he took the instant food idea to Charlie Kress, a scientist working for General Mills. After several failed, soggy attempts there came a breakthrough.

The chef’s original recipe was modified using hydrogenated oil, thus eliminating the need for refrigeration.

The new product called Bisquick was on grocery shelves the very next year. It’s “instant” success led to other packaged foods that replaced baking from scratch. Mothers-in-law would now be looked upon quite differently by young brides... well maybe not.

So where did this great idea come from?

The name of the late night chef is lost to history. But we do know where Carl Smith was when the lightbulb above his head lit up as he enjoyed those quickly made biscuits. He was on his way from Portland, Oregon to San Francisco…… By Train. The clever chef was a baker on board a Southern Pacific Railroad dining car.

And just that “quick,” if you work it hard enough it always comes back to the Railroad.

NOTE: The SP had several named trains on the route between Oregon and California. But Carl Smith probably bought his ticket on the Cascade. In 1926

Southern Pacific completed the Natron Cutoff between Eugene, Ore., and Weed, Calif. The new, shorter route became their mainline and in that year they inaugurated the Cascade as a premier overnight express from Portland to Oakland/San Francisco. As a General Mills executive with an expense account Smith was probably on the overnight Cascade, which would explain why the dining car was closed.

It’s elementary my dear Watson…..

By Ken Buehler

Duluth is a tourist destination for many reasons...

Cooler by the Lake summer temperatures when the rest of the Midwest is melting.

We’re a city that welcomes visitors with a friendly wave.

Being here will shore up and refresh your spirit.

Duluth is a tourist destination for many reasons. The first of which is that tall drink of water that is Lake Superior. The largest body of fresh water on the face of the earth, Lake Superior is the place to