A small round white porcelain bowl holds smooth, milky-white pudding made from whole milk and egg whites, its soft surface covered by a thin milk skin, with wooden chopsticks resting beside the bowl on the table.
Sweet soups served as dessert, such as mung bean soup.
Double-skin milk pudding is a dessert of milk and egg white: a skin forms on the milk, the milk under it is mixed with egg white and sugar, poured back beneath the skin and steamed, and chilling grows a 2nd skin. It originated in Daliang, Shunde, Guangdong, traditionally with water-buffalo milk; the account placing its creation in the Qing dynasty still needs supporting sources, and no dated text was found. In a folk tale, a woman surnamed Dong boiled milk to keep it in hot weather, which gave rise to the skin.
What
Double-skin milk pudding is a milk dessert eaten cold or warm, with 2 layers of milk skin: milk is heated and cooled until a skin forms, the milk under the skin is mixed with egg white and sugar, poured back beneath the skin and steamed gently, and chilling grows a 2nd skin.1,2,4,5
When
Its creation is traced to Qing-dynasty Daliang, Shunde, but the accounts are secondhand and need supporting sources; no dated text was found, so the dating remains unconfirmed.1,2
Where
Double-skin milk pudding originated in Daliang, Shunde, in Foshan, Guangdong, traditionally made with water-buffalo milk. Min Xin Lao Pu in Shunde also uses buffalo milk; its founding year of 1930 comes from the shop's own account in a May 2026 Hong Kong article on Foshan food, not a date for the dessert.1,2,3
How
Heat the milk and let it cool so a skin forms on top. There are 2 recipe methods: one heats milk to 82 degrees Celsius, cools it for about 20 minutes, mixes it with egg white and sugar, strains it 2 times, pours it back under the skin, steams it on high for 5 minutes and rests it for 15; the other uses egg whites and milk, steams for 15 minutes, rests it covered for 5 and chills it for at least 1 hour to grow the 2nd skin. Both use cow's milk, not buffalo milk.4,5
Why
In a folk tale, milk would not keep in hot weather before refrigeration, and the skin formed when milk was boiled for storage; egg white was added later to keep the milk from spilling.1,2
Impact and influence
Min Xin Lao Pu in Shunde features among the recommendations in a May 2026 Hong Kong article on Foshan food.3
Legend has it that a woman surnamed Dong in Daliang, Shunde, a cowherd, boiled milk to keep it in the heat and found that the skin on the cooled milk was popular. She sold the milk with its skin, added egg white so it would not spill on the way, and slowly refined this into double-skin milk pudding.
Told in: A folk tale of the Daliang area, retold in Chinese and English Wikipedia, both of which are tagged for sources; no dated text recording the story was found.
This is a simplified home version, not the traditional restaurant method.
This is my home version of double-skin milk pudding, made with supermarket whole milk rather than the water-buffalo milk of traditional Shunde. I looked at two recipe blogs by named authors. They give different amounts of egg white and sugar, so I take the egg white weight from the earlier recipe and put the sugar between the two; that is my own choice. The steaming times also differ, 5 minutes on high in one and 15 in the other, so I steam about 10 minutes and stop when the mixture has set.
Ingredients
Whole milk 450 ml
Egg whites 2 (about 70 to 80 g)
Sugar 25 g
Steps
Pour the milk into a small pot and heat it gently until it steams and tiny bubbles form at the edge; do not let it boil. One recipe heats it to 82 degrees Celsius.
Divide the hot milk between two heatproof bowls and leave it to cool, about 20 minutes, until a skin forms on top.
Gently lift one edge of the skin with a chopstick and pour the milk underneath into a measuring jug, leaving the skin in the bowl.
Stir the egg whites and sugar together in another bowl, pour in the milk slowly and mix, then pass it through a sieve to remove bubbles. One recipe sieves twice, and I do the same.
Pour the milk mixture slowly down the side of each bowl so the skin floats on top. Cover each bowl with a plate or foil.
Once the water boils, turn the heat to medium-low and steam the bowls for about 10 minutes. Shake a bowl gently: it is set when the mixture no longer sloshes, and if not I steam a few minutes more. Turn off the heat and leave the bowls covered for 5 minutes.
Take the bowls out, let them cool and chill them for at least 1 hour so a second skin forms. Eat cold, or slightly warm.
Tips
Both recipes use cow's milk; Chinese Wikipedia says traditional Shunde uses water-buffalo milk, which is hard to find at home, so I use whole milk.
When I pour the mixture back I tilt the bowl and pour down its side so the skin is less likely to tear; this is my own way.
