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1
Bring the water to a full boil in a heavy saucepan. Add the salt and oil, then tip in all the flour at once. Beat vigorously with a wooden spoon over the heat for one to two minutes until the paste clears the sides of the pan and forms a cohesive mass. The paste is ready when it is smooth, glossy, and no floury streaks remain.
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2
Remove the pan from the heat and rest the paste, uncovered, for exactly 5 minutes. The surface will lose its steam and the paste will firm perceptibly. It is ready to pipe when it holds a clean impression from a finger pressed into it.
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3
Transfer the paste to a churrera or a piping bag fitted with a large star tip. Heat abundant neutral oil in a deep, heavy pan to 180°C, confirmed with a thermometer. This is where the dish lives or dies: oil below 175°C produces greasy, ridge-losing churros; oil above 195°C burns the exterior before the interior cooks. Maintain this temperature between every batch without exception.
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4
Pipe the paste directly into the hot oil in straight lengths, cutting each churro cleanly with scissors or a knife at no more than 2 cm diameter. Fry in uncrowded batches, turning once, until the churros are deep golden on all sides. Immediately on lifting from the oil, tap one sharply — a correctly fried churro sounds hollow.
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5
Drain the churros briefly on a rack, not paper — paper traps steam. Dust at once with fine sugar. They must be served immediately; steam migrating to the crust will soften the exterior within minutes.
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6
For the drinking chocolate: warm the milk in a saucepan over medium heat with the chopped chocolate, stirring until fully melted. Whisk in the cornstarch slaked in cold milk and continue stirring over the heat until the mixture thickens to a genuinely viscous, spoon-coating consistency — not hot cocoa, but a sauce close to ganache in body. The chocolate is ready when a spoon drawn through it leaves a trail that holds for a moment before closing.