Double-skin milk

What makes it double-skin milk

• Very rich milk — buffalo milk, in Shunde — heated, poured into bowls and left until a skin forms.
• The milk poured out from under the skin, mixed with egg white and sugar, poured back and steamed.
• A second skin on top, and a set softer than a custard.

Where it comes from

Shunde kept water buffalo, whose milk is rich enough to form a thick skin as it cools. Double-skin milk is said to have come from a farmer there who noticed it, and is usually dated to the late Qing dynasty — but the story is a story.

It spread through the dessert shops of Guangzhou, Hong Kong and Macau, where it's served warm or chilled, plain or with red beans or ginger.

How it varies

Ginger milk curd

A neighbour, said to come from Panyu: hot milk poured onto ginger juice until it sets.