*Preferably extra-rich milk, if you can get it in your area. Choose a
wide-mouthed bowl or stainless steel bowl with sloping sides. Fill it
with milk, leaving a deep enough rim free to avoid spillage. Add 20
fl double cream. Leave in the refrigerator for at least several
hours, and preferably overnight. Set the bowl over a pan of water
kept at 82 degrees C (180 F) and leave until the top of the milk is
crusted with a nubbly yellowish-cream surface. This will take at
least 1 1/2 hours, but it is prudent to allow much longer. Take the
bowl from the pan and cool it rapidly in a bowl of ice water, then
store in the refrigerator until very cold. Take the crust off with a
skimmer, and put it into another bowl with a certain amount of the
creamy liquid underneath; it is surprising how much the clotted part
firms up -- it needs the liquid. You can now put the milk back over
the heat for a second crust to form, and add that in its turn to the
first one. The milk left over makes the most delicious rice pudding,
or can be used in baking, especially of yeast buns.
