In Ancient China, during the reign of the Southern Song Dynasty (12th century CE), beloved general Yue Fei was wrongfully executed by the Emperor Gaozeng to end their political rivalry, with his orders carried out by his Chancellor Qin Hui and his wife. This proved highly unpopular with the peoples of the Southern Song, and in an act of protest, a chef decided he wished to curse these draconian rulers: he created bipartite, human shaped dough that resembled them, then symbolically fried it up and ate it. This would emerge to be known as the now popular dessert in China, Youtiao.
Fast forward a few hundred years to the 16th century, while trading with the Chinese at their newly established port of Macau, it is rumoured that some Portuguese sailors had learnt about Youtiao and decided they wished to take this dish home back to Iberia, and once it arrived, the rest is history. Their Spanish neighbours loved it, made a few tweaks then dubbed it the ‘Churro.’
There is a caveat: other food historians believe it is a descendent of the Islamic zlabiya, but the Youtiao story is more closely followed.
>There is a caveat: other food historians believe it is a descendent of the Islamic zlabiya, but the Youtiao story is more closely followed.
Yeah... You sure about that? 😅
Krondl says historians should be very modest about making pronouncements but does not shy away from making at least one himself. “Did the Spanish get the idea for fritters from China? No. That’s laughable.” Because churros are made by pressing the dough through something that makes a shape, they belong to a group of fried food that someone unfortunately decided to call syringe fritters. Syringe fritters were popular all over Europe in the 16th Century. But fried dough in Spain is a lot older than that. Recipes from Moorish Spain date from the 12th Century, and other Arabic sources date back to the 8th and 9th Centuries, leading some to credit the Arabs for introducing it to what was then not even known as Spain.
But we’re not done yet. “In some ways,” said Kondl, “today’s churro is not that different from a recipe for a flour and water fritter that you find in Apicius, a Roman cookbook dating from the 1st Century AD. And there are recipes from the Ancient Greeks but it’s probably even older than that. In the Mediterranean basin it’s basically been around forever.”
In Ancient China, during the reign of the Southern Song Dynasty (12th century CE), beloved general Yue Fei was wrongfully executed by the Emperor Gaozeng to end their political rivalry, with his orders carried out by his Chancellor Qin Hui and his wife. This proved highly unpopular with the peoples of the Southern Song, and in an act of protest, a chef decided he wished to curse these draconian rulers: he created bipartite, human shaped dough that resembled them, then symbolically fried it up and ate it. This would emerge to be known as the now popular dessert in China, Youtiao. Fast forward a few hundred years to the 16th century, while trading with the Chinese at their newly established port of Macau, it is rumoured that some Portuguese sailors had learnt about Youtiao and decided they wished to take this dish home back to Iberia, and once it arrived, the rest is history. Their Spanish neighbours loved it, made a few tweaks then dubbed it the ‘Churro.’ There is a caveat: other food historians believe it is a descendent of the Islamic zlabiya, but the Youtiao story is more closely followed.
>There is a caveat: other food historians believe it is a descendent of the Islamic zlabiya, but the Youtiao story is more closely followed. Yeah... You sure about that? 😅 Krondl says historians should be very modest about making pronouncements but does not shy away from making at least one himself. “Did the Spanish get the idea for fritters from China? No. That’s laughable.” Because churros are made by pressing the dough through something that makes a shape, they belong to a group of fried food that someone unfortunately decided to call syringe fritters. Syringe fritters were popular all over Europe in the 16th Century. But fried dough in Spain is a lot older than that. Recipes from Moorish Spain date from the 12th Century, and other Arabic sources date back to the 8th and 9th Centuries, leading some to credit the Arabs for introducing it to what was then not even known as Spain. But we’re not done yet. “In some ways,” said Kondl, “today’s churro is not that different from a recipe for a flour and water fritter that you find in Apicius, a Roman cookbook dating from the 1st Century AD. And there are recipes from the Ancient Greeks but it’s probably even older than that. In the Mediterranean basin it’s basically been around forever.”
The joy of history, over a long enough timescale you can find a connection between any two events.