Where does the word “churro” come from?

Nobody agrees on exactly where churro comes from, but a leading theory ties the fried-dough pastry’s name to the oveja churra, a hardy sheep breed from Castilla y León with coarse wool and ridged horns — a shape people say the pastry’s own ridges echo. Other theories point to shepherds frying stale bread over open fires, or to a route through Portugal from China. What’s certain is that churros were already a fixture across Spain by the mid-1800s.

Spain also has porras, a thicker, softer cousin made with a pinch of baking soda, and both are traditionally eaten at breakfast or as an afternoon merienda, dipped in thick drinking chocolate — a pairing so famous it built an institution, Madrid’s chocolatería San Ginés. The filled, doughnut-like “Brazilian churro” found in parts of Latin America is largely unknown inside Spain itself.