So Susan has written a really nice post about what we did this past Saturday. But she did not report on what happened Sunday.
Over all, Sunday was a bit of a bust. Well, a “more travel flexibility day”, anyway, as we failed to get in to see the thing we wanted to see. But, as we were wandering around in downtown Madrid, looking for something else to do, we made a mighty culinary discovery.
We ran across a self-proclaimed “Chocolatería” (chocolate shop). Of course, we had to investigate. And the primary thing on the menu, that everybody seemed to be ordering at 11:00 AM, was “chocolate con churros”.
Oh. My. God.
When you order this, what you get is a plate of fresh, hot pasteries, and a mug of chocolate. We were expecting some variety of what we would call “hot chocolate”. But this stuff was much more like… Well, like warm ganache (or slightly thinned melted chocolate, if you prefer). I would say it was medium-dark, maybe 60% cocoa content, and spiced with hints of cinnamon and something else that we couldn’t identify.
And it was absolutely divine.
Churros are a long, thin pastry made, as far as I can tell, by extruding a doughnut-like dough through a star-shaped template into hot oil. So they come out about the thickness of your thumb and maybe 8″-10″ long. Crispy, and warm, and lovely. And oh so wonderful when dipped in the ganache-like chocolate.
Why does America not have this? Well, I’m guessing that you can find it if you look in the right places in ABQ, but you’d have to be able to speak Spanish there too. We’ll be sure to look when we get back. In any case, the fact that this dish has not become widely popular in the US is a terrible culinary tragedy. We will have to see what we can do to replicate it when we get home…
Around Chicago Churros are a common street food sellers item. Frequently filled with a flavor up the middle or rolled in different flavored sugars. (I like mine in cinnamon sugar)
Once you get home you might want to look up “Drinking Chocolate”. Schokinag is a popular brand, but there are a lot of others out there.
actually NM has this, mexican bakeries and the faire often sell them though not so much the ganache dip but I’m sure you could make that and buy the churros. And no I don’t think you need whole lots more Spanish than I have to get them. Its just the knowing they are there and asking.
~Ag
[...] ok, a couple of folks have commented on the “Dreams of Chocolate” post. But you seem to have not gotten the full picture here. Yes, I know that you can [...]
Churros con chocolate is definitely one thing I miss from Spain. My spanish cookbook, btw, suggests that the chocolate is made with cornstarch because by tradition it has to be thick enough for a wooden spoon to stand up straight in it.
BTW, another good Spanish treat is Horchata y fartones. But, definitely do NOT get it in Madrid. The horchata in Madrid is nasty (especially the bottled stuff). Go to Valencia (or better yet, Sagunto or Puerto de Sagunto near Valencia) and get it there. Horchata looks very similar to milk but tastes completely different. Fartones look like long breadsticks that are dipped into the horchata. Quite good, but not if you get it outside of Valencia.
Oh, also, apparently the story is that the Pope had to grant a special dispensation to exclude chocolate from fasting because too many Madrileños would have broken the rules. So, he apparently sent out the decree that “Liquidum non rumpit jenjunium” (Liquid does not break the fast). :-)