Not to be confused with Churo. Mike pastry the breed of sheep, see Navajo-Churro sheep. There are also two slightly different snacks in Portugal, called porra and fartura, which are filled with jelly instead of the doce de leite, traditional to Brazilian churros. The origin of churros is unclear.
One theory suggests the concept was brought to Europe from China by the Portuguese. Another theory is that the churro was made by Spanish shepherds to substitute for fresh baked goods. Churro paste was easy to make and fry in an open fire in the mountains, where shepherds spend most of their time. According to food historian Michael Krondl, “today’s churro is not that different from a recipe for a flour and water fritter that you find in Apicius, a Roman cookbook dating from the 1st Century AD. According to the Diccionario de la lengua española, churro is onomatopoeic. Churros are fried until they become crunchy, and may be sprinkled with sugar. The surface of a churro is ridged due to having been piped from a churrera, a syringe-like tool with a star-shaped nozzle.
Churros are generally prisms in shape, and may be straight, curled or spirally twisted. Like pretzels, churros are sold by street vendors, who may fry them freshly on the street stand and sell them hot. In Spain and much of Latin America, churros are available in cafes for breakfast, although they may be eaten throughout the day as a snack. Specialized churrerías, in the form of a shop or a trailer, can be found during the holiday period. The dough is a mixture of flour, water and salt. Some versions are made of potato dough. Depending on the recipe, it may not be vegan, they can contain butter, milk or eggs.
These tend to refer to the thicker variant, called porra. Calientes are usually fried in the shape of a continuous spiral and cut into portions afterwards. The center of the spiral is thicker and softer, and for many a delicacy in itself. In parts of Eastern Andalusia, a much thinner dough is used, which does not allow for the typical ridges to be formed on the surface of the churro. The final result therefore has a smooth surface, and is more pliable and of a slightly thinner diameter than standard Spanish churros.