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Freshly-cooked churros. Migue Fernández
What is 'churro', where did it originate and where are the best places to find it in Malaga and on the Costa del Sol?
Food and drink

What is 'churro', where did it originate and where are the best places to find it in Malaga and on the Costa del Sol?

There are many different recipes and names for one of the most popular breakfasts and daytime snacks in the cafés of Spain. We discover its secret and recommend a selection of places to enjoy it in the province

Manu Balanzino

Malag

Wednesday, 30 October 2024

It is possibly the most popular breakfast in Spain's cafeterias. 'Churros' do battle at the breakfast table with the 'mollete de Antequera' (a flatbread from Antequera) spread with zurrapa de lomo (pork loin paté) or a generous drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, but churros are the best accompaniment to a cup of hot, thick, dark chocolate or a café con leche (coffee with milk). Depending on the region of Spain where you are having breakfast, this delicacy may be called porras, tejeringos, jeringos, cohombros, chiribiquis, tallos or calentitos. Although seemingly simple to make with just flour, water and salt, achieving the perfect balance between fluffiness and crunchiness is an art unto itself. Some recipes add ingredients such as potato, baking powder or baking soda.

For this reason, two clear recipes for churros can be identified: the 'abuñolados', made with a pinch of yeast in the dough, allowing them to rise on contact with the boiling oil, and the so-called 'estrellado' (star-shaped) type, made with a higher proportion of flour, a denser dough and without any raising agent, so they turn out crispy on their ends due to the shape of the churro nozzle that dispenses them into the hot oil.

Before getting down to the nitty-gritty of where to go to sample the best churros in Malaga province, we should ask ourselves this question: what types of churros can be found here? As in every corner of Spain, each place has its own recipe book and speciality. Malaga is a land of tejeringos. These are thin, crunchy, light and circular in shape, very different from the porras so typical of the Madrid region, which are fried in large rounds and cut into elongated portions.

Origins

This recipe is nothing new. It is said that this dish was born several centuries ago, supposedly of Andalusian origin, with the writer Francisco de Quevedo and the poet Lope de Vega making mention in their texts of this sweet treat cooked in a frying pan and so deeply rooted in the culinary culture of Spain. "The churro is associated with sharing moments", says Antonio Arrebola, son, grandson and great-great-grandson of 'churreros' (churro chefs).

"It is common to read that churros were created in Catalonia in the 19th century. However, Arabic texts already refer to them ten centuries earlier; of course, not as churros, but in the way they were made", comments gastronomic researcher Fernando Rueda. "The churro from Malaga was always made in individual rings, called tejeringos, about 15 centimetres in diameter, and they were threaded with a reed - a common plant in the Mediterranean area - so as not to burn, and it was common to come across a churrero until the mid-1960s amidst the hustle and bustle of the processions or the revelry of the August fair," says Rueda.

The secret

With so few ingredients, achieving a good result becomes even more complicated. For José Guzmán, who runs Churrería Rocío in Fuengirola: "For a churro to be good, you need good flour, quality oil - in this case using a mixture of olive and sunflower oil - and the key is the yeast. Normally artificial yeast is added, but we make it with mother yeast [sourdough]. Every day we make a certain amount of dough that we keep and add to next day's mixture."

Do the churros require a fermentation process? "As we make them with sourdough, it is not necessary to leave it to ferment, so we can make the churros straight away", says Guzmán. In this churrería, which opened more than 30 years ago and is currently run by his daughter and son-in-law, they follow the tradition of making large wheels of porras which are then cut according to the customer's request.

Frying and extras

The frying process is another of the fundamental aspects and also where they are cooked. Most fry mainly in sunflower oil rather than olive oil to acquire that characteristic crunchiness, a preamble to serving them up, which is often done on a metal tray in the more popular cafes, accompanied by a few packs of sugar to coat them while one stirs the cup of chocolate, before dipping the first churro into that mixture of ground cocoa. Nowadays, however, some people opt for more modern accompaniments such as nutty spreads (almond, hazelnut or pistachio), dulce de leche or other types of chocolate (white or milk). It is also possible to find churros with fillings.

For Antonio Arrebola, founder of Tejeringo's Coffee with 18 cafes in the province, the secret lies in freshness: "Our dough is very complex and has a short shelf life. As it is in the middle of fermentation, it cannot be frozen, nor can it be kept cold. It has a shelf life of 20-25 minutes. That's why they are made and fried on the spot, so they arrive at the table very fresh."

Tejeringos, popular in Malaga

So, what about tejeringos, so popular in Malaga's cafeterias? "Churros acquire their shape when the dough is put into a kind of tube called a syringe - hence they are also called jeringos or tejeringos - or churrera, which forces the dough out through a circular mouth over the boiling oil, when it is pushed with a plunger, called a maja, which rests on the shoulder, while it is directed in a spiral shape with the sticks", says Rueda.

"The tejeringo is the most traditional churro that exists, it is where all c hurros come from. In the beginning they were always made by hand, before there were machines to make churros in Madrid, the 'lacitos' (sweet pastry twists) as they were made here. That's where the name comes from, from the syringe that rests by the [cook's] armpit", Arrebola explains.

What to look for...

In short, when looking for a well-made churro, it is necessary to look for dough that is not very greasy to the touch, crunchy on the outside, well-cooked and with air ('alveolados') on the inside (unlike the thick texture with doughnuts) and, above all, the main premise, it must have been freshly made.

Here are some recommended addresses for breakfast or snacking on churros in Malaga province. Undoubtedly there are many places where you can enjoy this centuries-old tradition.

Where to find the best churros in Malaga province

Alhaurín el Grande 

Café Bar Gali: Avda. La Libertad, 66 (622 77 63 99)

Antequera

Café A La Fuerza: C/ Alameda de Andalucía, 32 (952 84 16 07)

Coín

Cafeteria J&R: C/ Urbano Pineda, 1 (656 37 52 63)

Hijos de Ana Hevilla: Plaza de la Hispanidad (952 45 05 32)

Estepona

Cafeteria La Cordobesa: Avda. Libertad, 6 (952 79 86 05)

Tejeringo's Coffee: Avda. de España, 62 (604 41 58 54)

Fuengirola

Bar Teba: C/ Salvador Postigo, Edificio Gallerosa, Local 1 (952 47 70 77)

Casa Felipe 1977: C/ Camilo José Cela, 1 (952 58 88 69)

Churrería Alcalá: Plaza San Rafael, 9 (650 68 46 60)

Churrería Rocío: C/ Wenceslao Fernández Flórez, Local 12

Churrería Plaza del Carmen: Pl. del Carmen, 5 (647 05 68 02)

May Café: Avda. Nuestro Padre Jesús Cautivo, 7 (622 92 75 63)

Malaga 

Bar El Caracol: C/ Cristo de la Epidemia, 37 (952 25 49 09)

Bar Oña: Pl. del Hospital Civil, 7 / Av. de Carlos Haya, 75 (952 30 55 55 96)

Bar Migui: C/ Almería, 5 (604 96 84 75)

Cafeteria El Odeon: C/ Arquitecto Eduardo Esteve, 6 (952 29 80 19)

Cafetería Navarro: C/ Bailén, 7 (952 28 66 91)

Café Central: C/ Cervantes, 13 (952 02 43 25)

Café Madrid: C/ Calderería, 1 (952 22 21 02)

Casa Aranda: C/ Herrería del Rey, 2 (952 22 28 12)

Churrería La Alegría de los Montes: Avda. Manuel Gorria (659 68 60 26)

Churrería Rosa: C/ Jaboneros, 3 (639 84 03 71)

Churrería Martín: C/ de Demóstenes, 15 (952 61 66 80)

Churrería La Malagueña: C/ Sebastián Souvirón, 6 (661 78 35 90)

El Sauce: C/ Escultor Marín Higuero, 3 (951 54 81 28)

Los Valle: C/ Cuarteles, 54 (655 99 71 35)

Tejeringo's Coffee: C/ Méndez Núñez, 6 (686 88 54 81)

Marbella

Churrería Generalife: C/ General López Domínguez, 20 (655 40 11 54)

Churrería Parquesol: Avda. de Nabeul, Edificio Parquesol, Local 10 (951 71 20 49)

Churrería Ramón: Pl. de los Naranjos, 8 (952 77 85 46)

Churrería Marbella: Plaza de la Victoria and Plaza de África (659 06 90 42)

La Churrería de Ana: C/ Cristóbal Colón, 14

Mijas

Cafetería Berigu: C/ Río las Pasadas, 48 (634 91 06 77)

Churrería Bar Antonio: Avda. de Mijas, 28 (952 47 14 64)

El Kalvito: Avda. Miguel Hernández, 1 (638 03 43 90)

Serranitos Teba: Camino Viejo de Coín, 83 (951 66 77 36)

Rincón de la Victoria 

Cafetería Juan Andrés: Camino Viejo de Vélez, 1B (952 40 52 10)

Ronda 

Churrería Alba: Carrera Espinel, 44 (679 27 58 44)

Torremolinos

Café Bar El Quite: C/ Rafael Quintana Rosado, 59 (952 37 14 59)

Torre del Mar 

Café Espinola Bar: C/ del Río, 28

Cafetería el Edén: C/ Infantes, 18 (951 43 84 00)

Vélez-Málaga 

Cafeteria Tobalon: Avda. la Hispanidad (952 50 67 56)

Churrería Tomate: Vivar Téllez Avda.

Churrería Punto Norte: C/ Eugenio Morales Jurado, 5 (646 58 00 81)

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