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Eggbeater brought cooking up to speedier

Not the eggs replacement product: EggBeaters

On Feb. 5, 1884, Willis Johnson received a patent for a mechanical eggbeater. His invention paved the way for today's electric mixer.

Johnson's invention was not a small home-style eggbeater, but rather an elaborate mechanical device more appropriate to a bakery.

Johnson was a former slave who had witnessed the intense labor that went into making cakes. Before the Civil War, plantation menus, which depended on slave cooks, had commonly featured large multilayer cakes. After the invention of the eggbeater, layer cakes again became a popular Southern dessert.

Speed and ease are usually the primary motivators behind inventions. Quick cooking often relies on more than just mechanical devices to speed up the cooking process. This recipe, Quick Chocolate Mousse, uses an electric mixer and also features patented food products that shorten the preparation time.

Chocolate pudding mix was introduced by the Jell-O company in 1934. Chocolate was the first flavor of instant pudding to be produced.

This Quick Chocolate Mousse recipe also features instant coffee, a product with an even longer history. A patented process for producing instant coffee was invented by Chicago chemist Satori Kato in 1901. However, in the late 18th century, the British were already making instant coffee from burnt dehydrated coffee granules. Mass-produced instant coffee was first marketed in 1909.

From a taste perspective, I still prefer chocolate mousse made with fresh eggs and rich chocolate. However, this recipe is highly flavorful, easily prepared and avoids the use of raw eggs. Enjoy!

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