What’s the Scratch in Made From Scratch?

[Michie]

There’s no shame in using a box mix for brownies, but a tray of fudgy squares made from scratch will probably earn you extra brownie points at the bake sale, so to speak. The word scratch itself sort of fits the meaning of made from scratch, as though you’re manually clawing together ingredients with your bare hands. But the phrase didn’t actually originate in the kitchen.

As far back as the late 18th century, scratch referred to the starting line in sports like running and cricket, where that line might literally have been scratched into the ground. It was also the name of the line in a boxing ring where participants faced off before a round commenced. That definition of scratch soon propagated a wave of related phrases—toe the scratch, bring to the scratch, and come up to (the) scratch—which basically meant “meet the standard.” These days, we use up to snuff in a similar way.

Continued below.
What’s the <em>Scratch</em> in <em>Made From Scratch</em>?

 

[Joyous Song]

There’s no shame in using a box mix for brownies, but a tray of fudgy squares made from scratch will probably earn you extra brownie points at the bake sale, so to speak. The word scratch itself sort of fits the meaning of made from scratch, as though you’re manually clawing together ingredients with your bare hands. But the phrase didn’t actually originate in the kitchen.

As far back as the late 18th century, scratch referred to the starting line in sports like running and cricket, where that line might literally have been scratched into the ground. It was also the name of the line in a boxing ring where participants faced off before a round commenced. That definition of scratch soon propagated a wave of related phrases—toe the scratch, bring to the scratch, and come up to (the) scratch—which basically meant “meet the standard.” These days, we use up to snuff in a similar way.

Continued below.
What’s the <em>Scratch</em> in <em>Made From Scratch</em>?

JS: Speaking of homemade brownies that will wow those at a bake sale, try these:

Brownies Cockaigne

Preheat oven to 350° and have eggs at room temperature (72°F)


Melt in a small sauce pan or over water the cool to room temperature:
½ cup butter
4 oz unsweeten chocolate (or ¾ cup cocoa plus additional 4 T butter)

Beat till foamy:
4 eggs at 70° (room temperature)
¼ tsp salt


Add to eggs continuing to beating until creamy:
2 cups sugar (does not work with substitute sugars)
1 tsp vanilla


With fast motion combine chocolate to egg mixture but before it becomes uniform in color add:

1 cup flour (all-purpose or white wheat- or 1-1 gluten free all work)
1 cup finely chopped nutmeats (optional)

Stir briefly then pour into a greased 9 x 13-inch and bake 25 minutes or until a tooth pick comes out clean. Cut when cooled.