Churro
A churro, sometimes referred to as a Spanish doughnut, is a fried-dough pastry—predominantly choux—based snack. Churros are popular in Spain, France, the Philippines, Portugal, Latin America (including Brazil and Spanish-speaking Caribbean islands) and the United States. There are two types of churros in Spain, one which is thin (and sometimes knotted) and the other which is long and thick (porra). They are both normally eaten for breakfast dipped in hot chocolate or café con leche.
History
The origin of churros is unclear. One theory
is they were brought to Europe by the Portuguese.
The Portuguese sailed for the Orientand, as they returned from Ming
Dynasty China to Portugal, they
brought along with them new culinary techniques, including modifying the dough
for You
tiao also known as Youzagwei in Southern China, for Portugal.
However, they modified it by introducing a star design because they did not
learn the Chinese skill of "pulling" the dough (the Chinese Emperor
made it a capital crime to share knowledge with foreigners). As a result,
churros are not "pulled" but rather extruded out through a
star-shaped die.
Another theory is that the churro was made by
Spanish shepherds,
to substitute for fresh bakery goods. Churro paste was easy to make and fry in
an open fire in the mountains, where shepherds spend most of their time.
Preparation
Churros are typically 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 with
a star-shaped
nozzle. Churros are generally prisms in
shape, and may be straight, curled or spirally twisted.
Like pretzels, churros
are often sold by street vendors, who will often 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 can be found in the form of a shop or
a trailer during the holiday period. In addition, countries like Venezuela and
Colombia have churrerías throughout their streets.
The dough is a mixture of flour, water and
salt. Some versions are made of potato dough.
Variation
North southern, southwestern and southeastern
Spain the word churro usually refers to the thicker variant,
called porra elsewhere. The thicker variant is 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 South East Spain, 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.
Another difference is that sugar is never sprinkled on them, because the
flavour is not considered suitable.
Filled, straight churros are found
in Cuba (with fruit, such as guava), Brazil (with chocolate, doce
de leite, among others), and in Argentina,Peru, Chile and Mexico (usually
filled with dulce de leche or cajeta but
also with chocolate and vanilla). In Spain, a considerably wider diameter is
used to accommodate the filling. In Uruguay, churros
can also come in a savoury version, filled with melted cheese.
Churros in American theme parks and street
fairs are most often rolled in cinnamon
sugar or other flavored sugars.
Polvoron
A polvorón (From polvo,
the Spanish word for powder, or dust; Cebuano: polboron; Tagalog: pulburón)
is a type of heavy, soft and very crumbly Spanish shortbread made
of flour, sugar, milk, and nuts.
They are produced mostly in Andalusia, where there are about 70 factories in
that are part of a syndicate that produces polvorones and mantecados. Under
the name mantecados, these sweets are a traditional preparation of other
areas of the Iberian Peninsula as well.
Polvorones are popular holiday delicacies in
all Spain and
ex-Spanish colonies in Latin America, as well as the Philippines.
Traditionally they were prepared from September to January but are now
available all year round. There are authors who claim a possible Levantine origin,
based on a similar sweet known as ghurayba,[3] but
the recipe is too simple and one of the traditional main ingredients in the
polvorones is pig fat.
Mantecado
Mantecado is a name for a variety of
Spanish shortbreads that includes the polvorón. Often both names are
synonymous, but not allmantecados are polvorones. The
name mantecado comes from manteca, usually the fat of Iberian
pig (cerdo iberico), with which they are made, while the
name polvorón is based on the fact that these cakes crumble easily
into a kind of dust in the hand or the mouth.
In Puerto Rico mantecado is
an ice
cream and in Spain it may be also the name given to a kind of
sweet sherbet.[4]
In the Philippines, mantecado, is a
popular and traditional ice cream flavour, characterised as a mixture of
vanilla and butter.
Regional variations
Mexico
In Mexico,
these are traditionally served at weddings and celebrations. The cookies
themselves are small balls usually made with pecans. They are known in
the United States as "Mexican wedding
cookies".
Philippines
The Filipino version of polvorón uses a large
amount of powdered milk which is left dry, as well as
toasted flour, and butter or margarineinstead
of lard. A number of local variants on the
traditional polvorón recipe have been made. Well-known variants
include polvorón withcasuy (cashew nut), polvorón with pinipig (pounded
and toasted young green rice, similar to crisped
rice) and polvorón with malunggayleaves. Strawberry, chocolate coated,
peanut and cookies-and-cream flavoured polvorón also exist.
Spain
Polvorones are a common Christmas dessert in
Spain. These days there are options different from pig fat, like cow fat, as
well as vegetarian polvorones and mantecados made with olive oil.
United
States
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