What do you eat or serve porras with

[piazzola]

Wonder what type of toppings and how porras are served?

Is there any savoury porras or just sweet tooth things?

thanks

[butterfly]

I dunk them in cafe con leche or chocolate.... I don't think I've ever seen toppings on them. Though I think I did see some filled with chocolate at one of the verbenas in Madrid this summer--which I had always thought was more of a South American thing.

I've never seen them used in conjunction with a savory dish. Though they are some what similar to the fried dough that sometimes comes with congee (youtiao).

[vserna]

Dunk them in café con leche or, if you can take the calories, in a cup of real, thick, dark 'chocolate a la española'. No topping or other use will improve the humble porra.

[piazzola]

Thank you both for the feedback I thought Spain had some different ways of serving them. It looks like it is mostly the same though recipes do vary a little from country to country milk, oil, eggs, butter added etc

[rancapino]

Thank you both for the feedback I thought Spain had some different ways of serving them. It looks like it is mostly the same though recipes do vary a little from country to country milk, oil, eggs, butter added etc

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piazzola, yes, there is a difference: in Spain we 'sink' the 'porras' in the coffee or the chocolate.

and for those who think porras are sweet, they're not; they are slightly salted.

porras have different shapes and different mass, depending the spanish area you are; even sometime are called with other name, like tejeringos in Andalucía.

(sorry my english was not good)

[piazzola]

Aha!

rancapino we also sink churros in chocolate or coffee but porras are something different I would have thougt. Tell me how salty porras are and why Andalucians call it tejerigos? Is it because they extruded through a sirynge like tool?

Thanks

[Bux]

. . . .

porras have different shapes and different mass, depending the spanish area you are; even sometime are called with other name, like tejeringos in Andalucía.

. . . .

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And sometimes they are called churros? Are porras, churros by another name or are they different. they sound like churros although most of the churros I've had are served sprinkled with sugar.

rancapino, welcome to the forum. Your English is fine and certainly better than my poor Spanish which hasn't stopped me from enjoying Spanish cooking, although I have the advantage of having a wife who's spoken Spanish since she could speak.

[vserna]

Indeed it seems that 'tejeringo' (not 'tejerigo') comes from 'te jeringo', i.e., more or less, 'I put you through a syringe'. At least, that's what the Royal Academy of the Spanish Language says (it sounds rather fishy and unscientific to me - and I'm a lover of etymology!) But note also that 'tejeringo' is the southern Spanish word for 'churro', not for 'porra'.

Now on churros and porras. Churros are very thin, porras much thicker and longer: one porra is as big as three or four churros. In Madrid, churros are always braided to form an imperfect circle, a tradition from the times when they were sold threaded on a slim, flexible rush. Outside Madrid, churros are often sold, these days, as straight sticks - looking rather like mini-porras. 'Refined' churros in nice chocolate shops are always sprinkled with confectioner's sugar, but the people's churros that one has with morning coffee in the neighborhood café are not. They are slightly salted.

There is more than shape that sets churros and porras apart. The key is the dough. For churros, you use boiling water mixed with wheat flour: this will give a compact dough. For porras, you use lukewarm water, which in turn will produce the classic fluffiness of porras.

Of course, the churro and the porra are fried in olive oil - never mention the word 'butter' in a Castilian or Andalusian recipe!

One last note - churros and porras are just modest, rather primitive relatives of that supremely refined Madrid 'pan flower' (as all these types of fried doughnuts are known in Spanish): the 'buñuelo de viento'.

[pedro]

To make things more complicated, the distinction between churro and porra seems to exist only in Madrid and surrounding areas. In other parts of the country (i.e. Catalonia) just porras are made and they are called churros. At least, in the churrerías I visited.

[vserna]

Churros are really a Madrid specialty. They're more popular here than anywhere else.

[Bux]

I've always called them churros as even the straight fat ones are called churros here in NY and I suspect most of the new world, although the porras shape seems to dominate. It's the shape I first encountered in Spain forty years ago and I can't remember what it was called, but we bought some from a stand someplace in northern Spain, probably the Pais Vasco. More recently, we've tended only to find the true churro, thin and formed into that imperfect circle. I prefer them that way simply because there's more crunch to dough. I've been known to sprinkle sugar, from that available for coffee, on them when they come without sugar. My beverage of choice, if I'm not eating churros from a paper cone on the street, is cafe solo. On the other hand, cafe solo doesn't need churros. Hot chocolate might as it's sometimes too thick to drink. The churro serves as my spoon. "Dunk" implies that the chocolate arrives as a liquid. I've had camembert cheeses that were runnier than most hot chocolates in Spain.

[piazzola]

Another interesting fact is that home made churros recipes call for eggs whilst industrial churros and porras don't.

Could someone elaborate about that? Thanks

[chapeaulong]

did somebody say "porros"?

[rancapino]

chapealong, ...hahahahahahaaa, ....the word 'porro' or 'porros' is just for joints, cigarrettes made with marihuana ................ dont ever ask in a spanish 5 stars hotel for a 'café con porros' !!!!

[butterfly]

The Cuban churros that we get when we visit family in Florida are very similar to Spanish churros, but are straight and are served in a bag that is shaken with sugar. They are served out of vans by the side of the road.. Sometimes churros here are served with a little packet of sugar on the side, but I don't see the point of it, since I always dunk.

When I lived in DC, there was a place called Churrería Madrid that made Spanish-style churros--but no porras.

The churros at Chocolatería San Ginés are also straight--or really arcs. They create a huge churro spiral and then cut it into bits. They aren't my favorites by a long shot. Their porras are a bit better.

Personally, I like porras better with cafe con leche and churros better with chocolate.

The problem seems to be that the best churros are not served at the best chocolaterías.... at the moment, our favorite churros come from a little neighborhood cafe/bar called "Múñiz" on Calle de Toledo at Calatrava. The churrero there is a sort of zen master--he has a very interesting technique.

And, of course, you can't sleep too late if you want to get them fresh, unless you can get in on an afternoon merienda.

While staying near A Coruña this summer, a cousin told us that there was an excellent churros place there, but sadly we never got up early enough to go...

P.S. At the cafeteria in the bottom of the Facultad de Filología at Complutense, porras y porros seem go together like chocolate con churros.

Edited September 9, 2005 by butterfly (log)

[piazzola]

Thanks butterfly very subtle and informative feedback

though I like to know how Spaniards like their churros chewy or creamy in the inside? Thanks

[pedro]

Fluffy, not creamy.

[piazzola]

Fluffy, not creamy.

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Hmm I made a dozen or so this morning though I have not taken a pic of a section cut

damn! but they look spongy and stayed cruchy for about two hours

dressed them with a mix vainilla and fine confectionary sugar no powder sugar

[butterfly]

Take this with a grain of salt, since I've never made churros at home, but none of the recipes that I have include eggs...

They all require that you bring water and oil to a boil, reduce the heat to low, and then add sifted flour all at once, beating the mixture vigurously until it is smooth and almost begins to form into a ball. Remove from heat.

You can then put the dough into a pastry bag or whatever contraption you come up with to make the churros and fry it in olive oil.

The proportions seem to be (roughly):

2 parts flour

1 part water

1/3 part oil

salt

oil for cooking

I like my churros crunchy and light and my porras crispy on the outside and absorbent and porous on the inside.

[Bux]

I enjoy churros, and frankly I enjoy the little ones more than the fat porras, but it's not one of my very favorite things to eat. I don't seek them out and may not pay too much attention to them, but what I seem to remember is that when they come with sugar, it's not powdered sugar or very fine sugar, it's plain old granulated sugar. The kind you put in coffee. Perhaps there are some elegant bars or coffee shops in Madrid where they come with powdered sugar.

[piazzola]

Thanks butterfly

I used pastry sleeve and it is a pain to extrude churros

I wish I have that churrera that uses screw type action to extrude the dough

Does anyone have a web address that i can look at churreras please? preferably not plastic

Thanks

[vserna]

Another interesting fact is that home made churros recipes call for eggs whilst industrial churros and porras don't.

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There's no such thing as a churro made with eggs, or with butter. Not in Spain there isn't.

Where do you get those weird recipes, piazzola?

[piazzola]

Another interesting fact is that home made churros recipes call for eggs whilst industrial churros and porras don't.

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There's no such thing as a churro made with eggs, or with butter. Not in Spain there isn't.

Where do you get those weird recipes, piazzola?

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Well I believe these are home made churros so for one the Argentinean

use butter instead of oilve oil in the dough and Venezuelans add one or two eggs and blend in with the dough.

Now where can I get a churrera a tornillo?

thanks

[vserna]

for one the Argentinean

use butter instead of oilve oil in the dough and Venezuelans add one or two eggs

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Maybe you should address the Latin American forum then...

These things are as authentic as chop suey is Chinese...

[Silly Disciple]

... the Argentinean use butter instead of oilve oil in the dough ...

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we'd better do, given the crap you get in Buenos Aires posing as olive oil.