For Hanukkah this year, Zak Stern — who has been called the “kosher king” of Miami — is frying up doughnuts at Zak the Baker, his bakery and cafe. But he’s also making churros, the sweet fritter of choice in much of Latin America, Spain and Portugal.

“Miami is filled with Latin Jews,” he said. “It’s a natural.”

It is. And in Miami, Los Angeles and New York, the long sticks of fried dough are popping up on ever more varied tables for Hanukkah, which began this year on Sunday and runs through Monday of next week.

To prepare to make my first batch of churros, I visited the Pinata District in downtown Los Angeles, a Mexican and Central American food market. There, I saw a big tub containing a dough so thick that the vendor had to mix it with an electric drill. Then he grabbed his churro maker, a long metal extruder that looks something like a bazooka, and shot long, curled strands of dough straight into a large vat of oil to rapidly fry. They were then removed, dusted with cinnamon sugar, and tucked in a paper bag that was emptied within minutes.

With their irresistible crunch, the churros were the opposite of sufganiyot, the spongy jelly doughnut popularized with the creation of the state of Israel.

American, Eastern European and Israeli Jews eat potato latkes and sufganiyot to celebrate the ancient miracle of Hanukkah: After the Maccabees declared victory over the Assyrians, a tiny vial of oil in the temple kept the menorah lit for eight days when it was supposed to last for only one.

But other traditions that involve frying have taken root. I found many fried dough recipes, including two for churros, in a new cookbook, “Recipes of My 15 Grandmothers: Unique Recipes and Stories From the Times of the Crypto-Jews During the Spanish Inquisition” (Gefen, 2019), by Genie Milgrom, who was born in Cuba and now lives in Miami.

Milgrom, 64, was brought up Catholic, but, she said, had always felt drawn to Judaism and converted in her 20s. In her 30s, she traced her lineage on her mother’s side back to 15th-century Spain and found that her family was in fact Jewish: They were crypto-Jews, the term for Jews who converted to Catholicism during the Inquisition but secretly maintained their religious traditions.

About five years ago, Milgrom discovered a trove of recipes at her mother’s house that included churros — a dish that followed immigrants from Spain and Portugal to various destinations in the New World. Her family first used anise liqueur in the dough, followed by rum when they settled in Cuba.

When it came time to make my own churros, I asked for help from a friend who dreams of starting a churro truck. We tried recipes using a pate a choux of eggs and butter, but we liked the traditional water and flour dough best, with anise liqueur added to replace half of the water. This yielded a thick, crunchy exterior with a whisper of soft dough inside, rather than a chewy, eggy churro.

We also tried injecting a few churros with jam, like those at Mr. Churro in Los Angeles, but decided to instead serve ours with a fresh strawberry sauce, not unlike what Stern does in Miami.

“In Israel, sufganiyot is the dessert of Hanukkah,” Stern said. “Now, churros will become an alternative.”

CHURROS WITH STRAWBERRY SAUCE

By Joan Nathan

• Canola oil, for deep-frying
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 1-1/2 cups anise liqueur, such as Pernod
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1-1/2 cups water
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• >> Strawberry sauce:
• 2 pints fresh or frozen strawberries (about 24 ounces), washed, dried and hulled
• 3 tablespoons brown sugar, plus more as needed
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

>> To prepare the sauce: Place strawberries in food processor and pulse until almost pureed. Transfer mixture to a medium saucepan, cover and simmer over low heat until slightly thickened, about 20 minutes.

Remove from heat, cool slightly; stir in brown sugar and vanilla extract. Add more brown sugar to adjust sweetness to taste. You should have about 2 cups.

>> To prepare the churros: Pour oil into large pot to a depth of 2 inches. Line a baking sheet with paper towels. Pour granulated sugar and cinnamon into a wide, shallow bowl and stir to combine. Set aside.

Combine liqueur, salt and water in a medium pot or saucepan (preferably nonstick); bring to boil over medium-high heat. Remove from heat, then gradually add flour, stirring with a wooden spoon. Beat until well blended; the dough will be sticky and should resemble wet cement.

Heat oil to 350 degrees. Working in batches if necessary, scrape dough into a pastry bag fitted with a large French star pastry tip, or use a resealable plastic bag with one corner cut off.

Pipe dough into hot oil in 6- to 8-inch lengths, using a knife to slice dough away from pastry tip as you go; do this in batches of four or five. Fry churros, using tongs or chopsticks to turn them a few times and keep them from melding together, until they are deep golden brown, about 6 minutes.

Remove from oil and transfer to the prepared baking sheet to drain. While churros are still hot, coat in cinnamon-sugar mixture, turning to coat evenly.

Repeat with rest of dough. Serve warm with strawberry dipping sauce. Makes about 2 dozen.

Nutritional information unavailable.

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