WHAT ARE CHURROS AND HOW TO PRONOUNCE IN SPANISH?

Spanish churros are deep fried long shapes of dough made of wheat flour, water and salt. They are most often served for breakfast with hot chocolate in Spain.

The correct Spanish pronunciation is [chooroz], where "oo" is pronounced like "oo" in the word "look" and "o" in the word "boss".

WHEN DO SPANISH EAT CHURROS?

Churros are mainly associated with kind of special breakfast, when people are free or don't have much to do. They just simply sit and enjoy this sweet treat while reading a newspaper. 

However, the Spanish have also started enjoying churros while meeting with their family in late afternoon, especially in the winter. There is nothing as comforting as listening to children crunching the freshly fried churros.

In Spain you can often buy churros at one of the market stalls, which you can find easily if you follow the smell of fried oil and churros' dough. These are often sold in a dozen and served in a paper cone.

WHERE CAN YOU BUY CHURROS IN SPAIN?

Churros are most often fried in special bars called "churrería", which sell nothing but churros. These are always busy, because the Spaniards absolutely love churros. 

Most churrerías also offer a takeaway option. To find where to order your takeaway churros just join a long queue of people who buy fresh churros to enjoy home. 

At various fiestas you can also find mobile churrerías that often sell fried small sweet donuts called "buñuelos". You can often come across a universal "freiduría" where they simply fry and sell almost everything that contains flour. You can get anything from various doughnuts, muffins, buns to fried vegetables or even seafood.

 

Traditional churreria with a frying pan and two different types of churro making tools.

 

HOW TO EAT CHURROS?

The most iconic combination are churros dipped in very thick hot chocolate, which the Spaniards invented in the 16th century. The chocolate is so much thicker than what we are used to here in the UK. One cup is often enough to share between a few people who dip the tips of their crispy churros into this sweet temptation. 

But this is not the only way to eat them. As the hot chocolate is very sweet and rich, some prefer to dip their churros in hot coffee with milk. It's not uncommon to eat plain churros, without any soaking or dipping in anything. Homemade recipes most often suggest to coat freshly fried churros in sugar or a mixture of sugar and cinnamon.

 

Churros served with very thick hot chocolate

 

THE ORIGIN OF CHURROS

Churros, along with buñuelos and other less known desserts, belong to the group of fried sweet delicacies called "Frutas de Sartén" ( frying pan fruit ). 

They are most likely one of the many Arabic legacies and have survived successfully without any change since the 15th century including re-Catholicization, French influence in the 18th and 19th centuries and fascism in the last century.

TYPES OF CHURROS

Traditional churros

The cross section is in the shape of a star. The dough contains only flour, water and salt. These are most often straight.

Churros madrileños ( churros from Madrid )

These churros have a smaller cross section, but contain the same ingredients as the traditional churros. They are usually made in the shape of a loop.

Porras ( baton sticks )

Porras are thicker than traditional churros. The dough also contains a little bit of baking soda and sometimes sugar.

 Porras are thick and do not have a star-shaped cross section 

Tejeringos ( churros from Malaga )

These churros from Malaga have a larger cross section and the dough also contains a little bit of baking soda and sugar. The dough is pushed out straight from the churro making tool in the form of huge spirals into the hot oil. The spirals are then cut into about 20 cm long churros.

 Tejeringos are thicker and more risen than classic churros

Stay tuned for our favourite Churros Recipe soon!