After the Portuguese sailed for the Orient and returned from ancient China to Portugal, they brought along with them new culinary techniques, including modifying the dough for Youzagwei also known as You tiao in Northern China, for Portugal. However, they modified it by introducing a star design because they did not learn the Chinese skill of "pulling" the dough (the Chinese Emperor made it a crime with capital punishment to share knowledge with foreigners). As a result, the churros is not "pulled" but pushed out through a star-shaped cutter.
