ChurrosChurros
A cooked dough of flour, water, and a little butter, pushed through a star pipe into hot oil, fried until they have color and structure, and tossed in cinnamon-sugar before they cool. The Mexican merienda, done at home — the same move as the choux-family extrusion and the youtiao, and the pairing partner for the rest of the section.
Technique notes
Churros are a cooked, extruded, and deep-fried dough, and the three verbs are the whole technique. The dough is the choux-family move: flour and water cooked together with a little of the fat in a pan, so the starch gelatinizes and the flour is pre-cooked into a cohesive mass, rather than being mixed raw. Then it is extruded through a star pipe, not cut and not pinched — the star cross-section is what gives the churro its edges and its crispness, and it is the reason you push it through a nozzle rather than cutting it with a knife. Finally it is deep-fried in a little more oil, and it is the frying that gives the churro its crisp outside and its soft, light inside, and its color. The whole thing is the same move as the fried-dough cousins (cooked dough, extruded through a pipe, deep-fried), run on the Mexican-table scale — the baguette of the Mexican section, the side dish that the rest of the table is built around.
Equipment
- A heavy saucepan for cooking the dough
- A piping bag with a star nozzle, or a churro gun, for the extrusion — the star cross-section is the point, so a plain bag with no nozzle is the one tool you need to avoid
- A deep, heavy pot or a deep skillet with enough oil to a 2–3 inch deep fry, for the frying
- A wire rack or a paper towel to drain the finished churros, and a wide, shallow bowl to toss them in the cinnamon-sugar
Ingredients
- 170 g (1⅓ cups) all-purpose flour, for the dough
- 250 ml (1 cup) water, for the dough
- 30 g (2 tbsp) butter — or a neutral oil if you want a lighter churro — for the dough
- 2 tsp (10 g) sugar, for the dough
- 1 (4 g) tsp of fine salt, for the dough
- 2 tsp (about 3 g) ground cinnamon, for the toss
- 4 tbsp (50 g) sugar, for the toss
- 1 L (4 cups) neutral oil, for the frying — a high-smoke-point oil, since the oil is hot and the churro is light and dry at the surface
Method
- Cook the dough. Into a heavy saucepan, add the water, the butter, the sugar, and the salt, and bring it to a boil over a medium-high heat. The moment it is boiling, take it off the heat, and stir in all the flour all at once, working it in quickly. It will start out as a stiff, shaggy mass, and as you keep stirring it, it will come together into a smooth, cohesive, light dough that pulls away from the bottom and the sides of the pan — that is the cooked, pre-gelatinized move that the churro dough relies on, and the reason the dough can be held in a piping bag without cracking. Stir it for a moment or two, and let it rest in the pan for a minute or so, just to take the heat out of it and stop cooking — the dough is done once it holds together and is smooth, and there is no benefit to keeping it on the heat and drying it out further. Transfer it to a bowl, and let it cool enough to work with — a minute or two — or, if you want to move faster, let it sit and handle it when it is still warm enough to push through the piping bag, but not so hot that it burns your hand. The dough is the patience step of the churro; the frying is the heat step, and the two are the move and the heat of the whole thing.
- Get the oil hot. While the dough is cooling, put the deep pot over a medium-high heat, and heat the oil to a steady fry. The test is the same as for any deep-fry: a small piece of the chilled dough, dropped in, should sizzle immediately and float to the surface, and a drop of the dough should cook in seconds rather than sink. The churro is a small, light dough, and it needs the oil to be properly hot and properly deep so that it fries on all sides quickly and evenly and does not just steam in a skin of cold oil, and the point of the frying is to give the churro its crisp outside and its light inside. Set aside a bowl of the cinnamon-sugar, and lay out a wire rack or a paper towel to drain the churros.
- Pipe the churros, and fry them. Fit the piping bag with the star nozzle, and fill it with the cooked dough. Over the pot of hot oil, pipe straight, cut-length churros in the center of the oil, about 10–12 cm long, cutting them off with a clean, sharp, wetted knife — or using the churro gun, which does the piping and the cut for you. Pipe a few at a time, keeping them evenly spaced, and fry them for about 2–3 min, turning them a few times, until they are evenly colored and crisp — the star points will color first, and the whole churro will take on a light, even golden-brown, and a little of the crispness at the edges. The frying is the heat that gives the churro its structure and its color, and the moment the churro is evenly golden and light, it is done — it will keep going and darken as it drains, so take them out of the oil a shade early. Transfer them to the wire rack to drain, and repeat with the rest of the dough in a few more batches.
- Toss in the cinnamon-sugar, and serve while they are still warm. In the wide, shallow bowl, mix the sugar and the cinnamon, and toss each drained churro through the cinnamon-sugar — the sugar and the cinnamon should stick to the warm surface and coat the churro evenly. Lay them out on a plate, and serve them while they are still warm and light, because the whole point of the churro is that crisp, light, warm interior and the cinnamon-sugar on the outside, and a churro that has gone cold and stale is a churro that has lost its churro-ness and is just a piece of fried dough. Pair them with the chilaquiles and a cup of the mole for the merienda table, or with a plate of huevos rancheros for the whole breakfast at once.
Common failures
- The churros are dense and heavy, not light and crisp. The dough was over-kneaded or over-mixed (step 1), and the structure of the dough went from light to heavy. Stir it until it is smooth and holds, and stop — the point of the cooked dough is a light, cohesive mass, and over-mixing works out the lightness it needs.
- The churros are pale and greasy, not golden and crisp. The oil was not hot enough (step 2), and the churro steamed and soaked in the oil rather than frying and browning. A hotter oil and a shorter fry, and the churro is golden and crisp rather than pale and greasy.
- The star cross-section got flattened and lost its edges. The dough was too soft or too wet, or the piping was too forceful (step 3), and the churro spread out in the oil instead of holding its star shape. A stiffer dough and a gentle, even pipe, and the churro holds the star points that give it its crispness.
- The churros are a hollow tube on the outside, and a dense, cooked dough on the inside. The oil was too hot (step 2), and the outside set and crisped before the inside could cook through. A slightly lower, steadier heat and a slightly longer fry, and the churro cooks all the way through instead of setting a crust and leaving a raw core.
Variations & substitutions
- A lighter churro, with oil instead of butter. Swap the butter in the dough for a neutral oil, and the churro is lighter and a little drier, and pairs a little better with a mole on the merienda table. The difference is subtle, and the butter is the more classic, so the choice is a matter of taste rather than of correctness.
- A chocolate dip. Melt a little of the chocolate in the mole, or a separate mild dark chocolate, and dip the warmed churros in it before they cool. The dip is a sauce on a churro, and it is a Restaurant-adjacent move — the churro is the light, fried, warm thing, and the dip is the rich, dark, heavy thing, and the two of them are the same merienda table.
- A milder plate, with less heat. Hold the cinnamon in the toss for a milder churro, and the churro is a simpler, just-sweet-just-fried thing, which is the version that a chilaquile plate wants most — the churro is the crisp, sweet thing, and the chilaquile is the soft, savory thing, and the two of them are the range of the churro table.
What to serve with it
Churros are a merienda, and they want a side of the chilaquiles and a cup of the mole to the side, and a plate of huevos rancheros for the whole breakfast. Two plates of them alongside a bottle of something cold covers the whole table — the churro and the churro table are the baguette of the Mexican section, and the side dish that the rest of the table is built around.