Introduction to Shunde Cuisine and Culture

Shunde, where farmers have been raising buffaloes since ancient times, is known as the "hometown of milk and honey" in Guangdong. As the milk fat content of Shunde's buffalo milk can reach 7.5%-10% (the milk fat concentration of ordinary black and white cows is about 3%-4%), the milk flavor is particularly fragrant. Milk droplets can adhere to the wall of the cup without flowing away; a good person will drop milk on the jade button paper, milk droplets do not diarrhea scattered, not through the paper, cohesion in the paper as a milky white pearl; this is the unique Shunde buffalo milk "hanging cup" and "drop beads" characteristics. It is because of these unique advantages of Shunde buffalo milk and the sincere love of Shunde people for buffalo milk, Shunde's generations of talented people can create a milk as the material of the famous food, and Fengcheng double-skinned milk is one of the best. As a traditional dessert that has become a household name in Guangdong, what exactly is authentic double-skinned milk? What is the origin of double-skinned milk? This self-proclaimed milk boy I specifically asked the Shunde food culture master Mr. Liao Xixiang, in order to solve the questions that have been stored in the heart for many years. It is said that at the end of the Qing Dynasty, buffalo farming was very prosperous in Shunde. According to legend, Dong Xiaohua, the founder of double-skinned milk, made his living by raising cows and selling milk and buttermilk in Daliang. As the family was poor and had no money to buy other supplements, Dong Xiaohua would share some of the freshly milked cow's milk with his family every morning. One morning, when the family had to go out for an important event, he forgot to drink the freshly boiled milk on the stove, and it was not until he came home in the afternoon that he realized that the bowl of fresh milk on the stove had already turned cold, and a thin layer of milk skin had solidified on the surface of the fresh milk. When Dong Jiewen, Dong Xiaohua's eldest daughter, tasted it, she found that the milk skin was soft and smooth, and the milk was sweet and fragrant, which was several times more delicious than freshly boiled milk, so she begged Dong Xiaohua to continue to make it. Dong Xiaohua, a kind-hearted man, tried to accommodate his daughter by repeatedly making milk with an extra skin than usual, and after many improvements, he finally made the prototype of double-skinned milk. Due to the prosperous development of Shunde buffalo farming, Dong Xiaohua has raised cattle for most of his life and gradually felt the cruelty of competition, milk sales are getting worse and worse, in order to be able to increase the operating income, Dong Xiaohua remembered his daughter's favorite bowl of milk than the usual more than a piece of skin. After that, in addition to delivering buffalo milk and cow's milk to regular merchants, Dong Xiaohua's job was to pick up the cooled milk and sell it in various townships. A miracle happened, this bowl of milk with an extra skin was sought after by Shunde people who love dairy products, and the demand exceeded the supply every day. Dong Xiaohua did not idle, in order to facilitate the sale, not to pour milk in transit, he came up with the addition of egg whites in the milk, so that the milk was semi-coagulated method, but also to the bowl of their own creation of the milk to give a resounding name ---- "Double Skin Milk"! With the growing prosperity of the business, Dong Xiaohua felt that every day with a bowl to the township sales is very inconvenient; in the early 30s, he opened in the early 30s, Daliang Huagai Road, the first dairy specialty store specializing in the sale of double-skinned milk and cow's milk ---- "Minxin" old store. Later, he passed "Minxin" to his favorite tenth son, Dong Zhaoxiang, while his eldest daughter, Dong Jiehua, who loved double-skinned milk the most, set up her own business in the early 50's and opened another famous dairy brand, "Renxin" in Daliang Fine Wei. With the changes of the times, "Minxin" and "Renxin" have been separated a few times, but the business is still thriving. The reason is that in the minds of Shunde people, these two long-established milk stores will always be the hall of fame for making Cantonese-style milk desserts. "Sweet and crispy milk double skin, jade liquid congealed fat moist snow skin. Why do you need plastic surgery to seek the best color, Daigo helps you to match Xishi Shi." The song "Shunde Cuisine Bamboo Poem" expresses the characteristics of double-skinned milk to the fullest. So how is double skin milk made nowadays? With this question in mind, I was introduced by Mr. Liao to Renxin Old Shop, and under the guidance of Mr. Liang (son-in-law of Ms. Dong Jiewen), the current proprietor of the store on Huagai Road, I was able to take a close-up tour in the kitchen to learn the process of making authentic Daliang double-skinned milk. According to Mr. Leung, the production of traditional Daliang double-skinned milk requires three steps: (a) coagulation: workers add fresh and undiluted Shunde buffalo milk (it is best to find the milk of buffaloes within the first month after giving birth to a calf, which is the golden period of buffalo lactation, and the buffalo milk is particularly rich in nutrients and has a stronger milk flavor) to the pot, and add an appropriate amount of selected young sugar, and then gently cook it over a slow fire until the sugar has fully dissolved; to avoid coagulation of the proteins in milk, it is necessary to make the milk in the pot, and to make the milk in a way that the milk is not too rich. In order to avoid solidification of proteins in fresh milk, cooking to constantly rotate in the same direction to stir the milk, milk slightly boiled and then injected into a small bowl; to be the temperature of the milk reduced to cool, the bowl will be condensed a thin layer of milk skin. (B) poke skin: at this point, Mr. Liang casually picked up a bowl of fresh milk that has already condensed a good milk skin, skillfully use a bamboo stick to poke a small hole in the combination of the bowl edge and the milk skin, and then in the 180-degree diagonal end of the small hole gently pick up the corner of the milk skin, and then gently pour the lower layer of milk along the edge of the bowl, at this point, there is no milk to support the milk skin will be crashed in the bottom of the bowl. (c) molding: quickly pour out the milk into the egg whites and mix well, in order to prevent egg shells and impurities, it is also necessary to filter the impurities in the mixture with a strainer, filtering and then scooping out the excess air bubbles, and then carefully pour the egg and milk mixture from the side of the bowl through the openings of the milk skin back into the bowl, then the milk skin will float again. Put the milk into the pot, in order to prevent distilled water from dripping into the milk will be wet milk skin broken, but also need to cover the special domed lid, and then the original bowl of medium heat simmering until the milk is cooked, at this time the stewed milk will be re-created another layer of milk skin, a bowl of perfect double-skinned milk can be out of the oven.