133 Quicker Ways to Homemade, with Bisquick — Text and Context

(0 User reviews) 226

In Category - Recipes

Authors: Crocker, Betty Digital Source: Project Gutenberg Gutenberg Release Year: 2020 First Publication Year: Not confirmed

Key Word: Cooking, American; Baking; Food mixes Target Reader: Readers of public-domain and historical texts

Book Edition: Project Gutenberg digital edition Book Language: en

Edition facts

Words 9,710

Reading time 43 min

Text sections 2

133 Quicker Ways to Homemade, with Bisquick — Text and Context can be approached with a clearer sense of reading commitment from its source measurements: 9,710 words, 43 min estimated reading time, and 2 detected text sections.

The text analysis averages about 10.0 words per sentence, while the detected sections provide another way to judge how the source is divided.

Project Gutenberg metadata also associates the work with “Cooking, American,” connecting these edition facts with the source record’s subject description.

Source: Project Gutenberg record #61487

This 1959 Betty Crocker cookbook presents 133 recipes built around Bisquick, emphasizing speed and homemade quality. The editorial note examines its instructional voice, structural patterns, and shifts in pacing from basic biscuits to yeast baking.

Editorial Edition Score 4.5/5

★★★★★ ★★★★★

Calculated from edition completeness, EPUB availability, text structure and catalogue metadata. Not a user rating.

How this score is calculated

Description quality20 pts
Title & short description10 pts
Source metadata20 pts
Text length15 pts
Chapters / structure15 pts
EPUB file integrity20 pts

Total of 100 points, scaled to a 2.5-5.0 range. Editions with an empty description or a missing EPUB file are not scored.

Edition quality

File: pg61487

Read the Text

133·Quicker ways to homemade ... with BISQUICK

FROM _Betty Crocker_ OF GENERAL MILLS

This little cook book is dedicated to you who would like to give your families more of your homemade good things, if you only had the time.

Bisquick makes that possible ... good homemade food, quickly prepared. You can cook with love and enjoy the cooking more, when you use this cook book and your Bisquick. Once you start, I know you’ll want to try every idea in the book.

BISCUITS page 3 MAIN DISHES page 5 MUFFINS, COFFEE CAKE page 8 DUMPLINGS page 10 NUT BREADS page 12 PANCAKES, WAFFLES page 14 SHORTCAKE page 18 VELVET-CRUMB CAKE page 20 YEAST BAKING page 23 ALL-TIME FAVORITES page 26 INDEX back cover

Biscuits: _How to make them perfect_

_For Drop Biscuits_ ... drop dough with spoon on greased baking sheet. Bake as above.

_For Richer Biscuits_ ... follow directions above—except mix ¼ cup soft butter or shortening, or 3 tbsp. cooking (salad) oil into Bisquick before mixing in milk.

_For Buttermilk Biscuits_ ... use ¾ cup buttermilk for liquid. It may be necessary to use a few additional tablespoons of buttermilk to make a dough of soft consistency.

Dress up your biscuits 10 ways Kind Add to recipe Serve with

Bacon ⅓ cup crisply cooked diced grapefruit, scrambled eggs bacon Cheese ½ cup grated sharp cheese veal steak and vegetables Chives ¼ cup finely chopped chives wieners and baked beans Curry ¼ tsp. curry powder chicken casserole fruit salad Ham ½ cup chopped boiled or cheese soufflé, green salad baked ham Herb ¼ tsp. nutmeg, ½ tsp. beef or veal stew crumbled dry sage, and 1¼ tsp. caraway seeds Lemon 1 tsp. grated lemon rind. crispy fried fish Add 2 tbsp. lemon juice to ½ cup milk and use for milk in directions. Olive ¼ cup chopped stuffed olives sea food or meat casserole Peanut ⅓ cup chopped peanuts pot roast and vegetables Salami ½ cup chopped salami sausage mixed vegetables and cheese salad

Mix ½ cup _each_ melted butter, brown sugar. Spoon into 12 large muffin cups with three pecan halves in each. Cover with Biscuit dough; bake 15 minutes. Quick and delicious for Sunday brunch.

Heat oven to 450° (hot). Make Rolled Biscuit dough (recipe page 3 )—except add 2 tbsp. dry onion soup mix. Roll dough into a rectangle, 10×6″. Cut in half lengthwise. Cut each half into 12 strips (about 3×½″). Melt ⅓ cup butter and add 2 tbsp. dry onion soup mix; pour half of it into oblong pan, 13×9½×2″. Place strips in pan. Pour remaining butter over tops. _Bake 10 to 15 min._

For 60 Medium. Serves 30.

10 cups Bisquick (40-oz. pkg. or two 20-oz. pkg.) 3⅓ cups milk

For 100 Medium. Serves 50.

15 cups Bisquick (60-oz. pkg.) 5 cups milk

Follow Biscuit directions (page 3).

Main dishes _with biscuit topping_

Meat and Vegetable Pie

1 lb. stewing beef (cubed) ½ cup Bisquick ½ tsp. salt ⅛ tsp. pepper ⅛ tsp. paprika, if desired 1 medium tomato, chopped; or ½ cup canned tomatoes 1 to 2 small onions, chopped 2 large carrots, sliced 1 small clove garlic, cut up ¼ tsp. Worcestershire sauce salt and pepper

Roll meat in mixture of Bisquick, salt, pepper, and paprika. Brown meat thoroughly on all sides in a little hot fat. Add tomatoes, onions, carrots, and garlic; sauté until onions are transparent. Add enough water to cover meat and vegetables. Cover tightly and cook over low heat until meat is tender, 1½ to 2 hr. Add Worcestershire sauce, salt, and pepper. _Heat oven to 425°_ (hot). Pour stew in 1½-qt. baking dish and cover with ½ recipe for Biscuits (recipe page 3). Bake _about 12 min._ until biscuits are a golden brown. _2 to 3 servings._

¼ cup chicken fat or butter ¼ cup Bisquick 1½ tsp. salt ¼ tsp. pepper 2 cups chicken stock (saved from stewing chicken) ⅔ cup cream 3 to 4 cups chicken (cut in large pieces)

Heat oven to 450° (hot). Heat chicken fat. Blend in Bisquick, salt, pepper. Remove from heat. Stir in chicken stock, cream, chicken. Cook over low heat until thickened (about 5 min.). Pour _hot_ filling into baking dish, 11½×7½×1½″. Cover with Richer Biscuit dough (recipe page 3) rolled out to fit top of baking dish. Cut 2 or 3 slits in center. Bake _about 15 min. 4 to 6 servings._

_Note_: If desired, use chicken fat for shortening in Biscuit recipe.

Deep-Dish Salmon-Cheese Pie

1 tbsp. chopped onion 2 tbsp. butter or other fat ¼ cup Bisquick 1½ cups milk 1 cup grated sharp Cheddar cheese 1 lb. can salmon, drained and broken into large pieces 1 tsp. salt few grains pepper

Heat oven to 450° (hot). Sauté onion in butter. Remove from heat. Blend in Bisquick. Slowly stir in milk. Bring to boil over low heat, stirring constantly. Boil 1 min. Stir in rest of ingredients. Turn hot mixture into greased 1½-qt. baking dish and heat in oven until mixture bubbles. Make ½ Biscuit dough (recipe page 3). Pat or roll out to fit top of baking dish. Place on hot mixture. Cut 2 or 3 slits in center. Bake _about 15 min._ or until topping is brown. _4 to 6 servings._

Continue Reading →

The 1959 edition of 133 Quicker Ways to Homemade, with Bisquick opens with a dedication that frames convenience as a gift of time for family cooking. Betty Crocker’s voice is direct and encouraging: “You can cook with love and enjoy the cooking more, when you use this cook book and your Bisquick.” The book’s structure moves from fundamental techniques—biscuit-making with precise oven temperatures and kneading counts—to increasingly elaborate variations and yeast baking. This progression creates a clear instructional arc, but the pacing shifts noticeably between sections, from brisk, imperative instructions to more relaxed, descriptive passages.

Imperative Precision in the Biscuit Section

The opening biscuit recipe establishes a tone of exactitude. Instructions are given as commands: “Heat oven to 450° (hot). Add ⅔ cup milk all at once to 2 cups Bisquick. Stir with fork into a soft dough. Beat dough vigorously 20 strokes.” The number of strokes is specified, and the dough’s consistency is defined as “stiff and slightly sticky.” Kneading is limited to “8 to 10 times,” and the cutter is dipped in Bisquick to prevent sticking. This level of detail suggests an audience unfamiliar with baking, yet the voice remains confident, not condescending. The “Dress up your biscuits 10 ways” list follows a consistent pattern: each variation names an ingredient, gives a quantity, and pairs it with a suggested serving. For example, “Bacon: ⅓ cup crisply cooked diced bacon” paired with “grapefruit, scrambled eggs.” The structure is uniform, making the variations easy to scan and compare.

Expansion and Variation in Main Dishes and Baking

As the book moves into main dishes, muffins, and coffee cakes, the instructions become more flexible. The Velvet Crumb Cake recipe, for instance, offers multiple variations—upside-down cake, orange-nut, fudge, spice, and shortcake—each introduced with the phrase “Make Velvet Crumb Cake (recipe page 20)—except…” This formulaic approach allows for quick adaptation without repeating the base method. The language shifts from imperative to conditional: “Serve warm with whipped cream” or “Serve warm with a topping.” The yeast baking section introduces a different pacing, with numbered steps and a note on water temperature: “Water temperature for dissolving yeast is right when it is slightly warmer than lukewarm. Too hot water kills the yeast; too cool water retards rising.” This explanatory aside contrasts with the earlier brisk commands, offering a brief moment of theory before returning to procedure.

Pacing Shifts in Yeast Baking and Pizza

The yeast roll recipe includes a rising step that takes “about 1 hr,” a significant pause compared to the 10–15 minute bake times of biscuits. The instructions for shaping rolls—crescents, clothespin rolls, knots—are detailed but assume some manual dexterity. The pizza recipe that follows is notably different in tone: it lists ingredients in a bullet-like format and includes the note “No rising!” The baking temperature is 425° (hot), and the instructions end with “Serve immediately. Unbaked pizza may stand while others are baking.” This practical tip acknowledges real-world kitchen logistics. The voice here is less prescriptive and more accommodating, suggesting a shift from teaching basics to enabling creativity. The overall pacing of the book accelerates through the first sections, then slows with yeast baking, and finally relaxes into the pizza variations, which offer flexibility in portion size and topping assembly.

Readers will notice that the book’s instructional voice is consistent but not static; it adapts to the complexity of the recipe. The early sections demand precision, while later ones allow for interpretation. Pay attention to the small details—the number of strokes, the temperature notes, the serving suggestions—as they reveal the assumed skill level of the cook. This cookbook is best used as a sequential guide, but experienced bakers may skip ahead to the variations and yeast recipes for more ambitious projects.

I remember my mother’s worn Bisquick box, the same hurried rhythm of “quick” and “homemade” that this cookbook hums. Flipping its pages now, I felt that old contradiction again—the same one I had with Let's Cook Meat: Recipes You'll Like — A Reader’s Guide, where convenience somehow promised warmth. Both books whispered that a short cut could still taste like love. That’s a gentle lie I still hold.