I have always considered myself quite a nice person. I like food of all shapes, flavours and colours. From every country and continent. I don’t discriminate, I am an equal opportunity eater. It’s only the doctors who say I’m intolerant. And certain foods who refuse to tolerate me. They certainly refuse to recognise and respect my right to eat them without major physical discomfort and distress.


Gluten and lactose are not my friends.


Despite the negative attitudes surrounding me from many of those I love best, (cakes, ice cream, hot toast) I decided to become a chef. Not always easy when you live in a bread and milk filled world. I like to think that this has helped me become a better person as I embrace my differences and refuse to let the gluten get me down. I believe InTolerance. I am the InTolerant Chef.

Food should not be about what you can’t eat, but what you can and what you enjoy eating. This blog is about my journey of cooking and eating and discovery. It’s not a definitive guide to allergy awareness nor do my intolerances make me an expert. Your body is your responsibility, not mine. I only know what works for me.


I can tell you this..... No glutens were harmed in the making of this website.

June 24, 2011

Musk Pannacotta



Do you remember Musk Sticks?

The mild perfumey pink lolly stick that would have in every goody-bag at every birthday of your childhood? When they were fresh, they'd be slightly soft with a bit of 'give' to them, but when they were stale, they'd still be tasty, but would have to be sucked on to soften them up so you wouldn't break a tooth.



I came across this liquor at the local Show, and was tickled pink :) with the flavour. I don't know if these are a uniquely Australian sweet, I haven't seen them anywhere else, but if it's not your cup of tea, you can replace the sweet muskiness with another flavour of your choice.





Panacotta Recipe

400ml lactose free cream
(I did try this with coconut cream, but the flavours didn't work nearly as well, you really need the bland smoothness of plain cream)
100ml musk liquor
1 1/2 tsp gelatine
1 tablespoon castor sugar
few drops of pretty pink colouring

Musk Toffee Topping

1/4 cup water
1/4 cup musk liquor
few drops hot pink colouring



Put all the topping ingredients in a pan and bring to the boil. Boil for 5 minutes until reduced and syrupy.



Put the gelatine and 1 tablespoon of cold water in a small dish and let it
'bloom' for a few minutes. This means it will swell and soften down the granules so it will dissolve evenly later.

Place the cream, musk liquor and sugar in a pan and let it come to the boil.



Take it off the heat and stir in the gelatine mixture. Let it stand for a couple of minutes, then give another good stir to make sure the gelatine is mixed evenly. I don't advise whisking the mixture as you can get a lot of little air bubbles trapped in the end product.

Give your panacotta moulds a very light spritz with vegetable spray oil, this will make your life much easier when it comes to serving time. Don't worry, you won't taste it in the finished product.



Place about a teaspoon of the syrup mixture to the bottom of the moulds. Gently pour the cream mixture over the back of a spoon into the moulds until nearly full. The reason you do this is to try not to disturb the bit on the bottom so that when you unmould them, there'll be a nice hot pink base with a little dripping attractively over the edges ala creme caramel style. Getting a bit fancy aren't we?




Pop the little lovelies in the fridge for at least 4 hours to set and develop flavours.



Now, The Big Moment.......






To get the musky morsels out of the moulds just try breaking the seal at the top by easing back the edge with your finger, then placing the serving plate over the bottom of it and tipping it upside down. It just might slide out- maybe. Mine came out first time no problem. But if it's stubborn and doesn't want to co-operate, then boil the kettle and fill up a bowl a bit bigger than the moulds with the hot water. Dip each mould in the water for a few seconds then try again, this time there shouldn't be any problem. If this for some strange reason STILL isn't working, just hand the moulds to your guests along with a spoon and pretend you meant to serve them this way all along.

Aren't they gorgeous? Perfect for moments of pure pink perfumed pleasure,their marvellous muskiness making mouth-watering memories.

Yes, they do have that effect on me Readers, perhaps I didn't evaporate off all the alcohol? Maybe it's the red food colouring or the sugar rush? You'll just have to try them for yourself to see.



So Dear Readers, do you remember musk sticks? And what was your favourite childhood lolly?

22 comments:

  1. oh lovely! I remember musk sticks, my friends were all mad for them but I felt a bit 'meh' about them. I was all about the milk bottles!! :) I'd love to try this though... a simply beautiful creation here, lady. Bravo!
    Heidi xo

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  2. I haven't had the musk flavour for forever! But I remember loving those musk sticks SO much! :D

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  3. Wasn't a fan of the musk sticks, I loved red skins! It's a hell of an idea for a pannacotta though :)

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  4. I love pannacotta! i would never have thought to do musk flavour. I am with Jasmyne - I loved red skins

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  5. argh- such nostalgia... I loved musk sticks, they were one of the great staple lollies available at our canteen- along with choc buds!

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  6. Hm, I think I haven't seen a musk stick before ... But I remember my favorite childhood lollies very well: They had an (quite artificial, hehe) cherry flavor and were so nicely pink. Here's a picture (this are exactly the lollies I used to love as a child):

    http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_DFdapV9v-xE/TOVXu-vu6CI/AAAAAAAAAiQ/zuMLT35Plxc/s1600/Kirschen1.jpg

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  7. One of my sisters liked red skins! the other sister liked musk sticks, Musk sticks were my favorite too but because it was hers I wasnt allowed to like her favorite.

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  8. Oh so pretty!
    Pineapple lumps for me - they're a Kiwi thing, just another reason to feel sorry for the Aussies :-) xxx

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  9. i love it! so great to remember those childhood delights :)

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  10. Oooh I remember musk sticks! It's times like these I wish we could smell via the internet.. someone should really get onto inventing that! ;)

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  11. Oh Chef, its so pretty, a lovely Mothers Day dessert, or perhaps Valentines Day.
    I was never a musk fan, found them kinda BLEHHH tasting, you know what that is right... LOL! I was into Nerds, Red Skins and Fantales. Soooooo good. :)

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  12. We had pineapple lumps along with apricot bites all sold at the school canteen.

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  13. I have no idea at all what are musk sticks!!! :O

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  14. Okay, I have never seen a musk stick before!! But, this sounds like quite the interesting combination of flavors! I might just have to see if I can find the ingredients here!

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  15. Musk sticks!! Oh that takes me back - we used to be able to buy lollies at the tennis courts in little paper bags - bananas, musk sticks and rainbow balls...ahh, lovely to reminisce, thank you.. :)

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  16. That looks soo pretty! But I'm sorry, I just cannot eat musk. It smells nice, but that's as close as I get! :)

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  17. Oh how lovely! This just brings back memories of buying bags of musk sticks at the corner shop as a kid. I have just discovered your blog, love your recipes :)

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  18. Musk sticks certainly seem to be stirring up some strong feelings- whether good or bad- don't they Readers Dear, I guess not all childhood memories are good ones!

    Heidi- I love milk bottles too, especially when they're a bit chewy yumm...

    Lorraine- I think it's the scent I love even more than the flavour :)

    JasmyneTea- Redskins would get so sticky though!

    Sherrilyn- I used to see how far I could get them to stretch without breaking

    Gastronomy Gal- the only lollies at the school canteens now are 'healthy' ones- not the same :(

    Kath- how lovely! Maybe musk is Aussie then?

    Simcha- I'm sure none of your wonderful sisters would be like that without good reason? I've always heard how lovely they are!:P

    Ninehundredandseventytwelverecipes- I've had pineapple lumps, and lovely as they are I think I'll stick with the musk sticks! I like the Snifters spearmint lollies from NZ though.

    Muppy- a nice grown up version though!

    Ladybird- yes smellevision or snifternet maybe?

    Anna- I liked Cobbers, I still think they're just unwrapped Fantales :)

    Simcha- Apricot bites are so good :)

    Tigerfish- oh no! You poor thing! Think of musk perfume, but yummy.

    Kim- I hope you can track it down. We also get musk flavoured LifeSavers, a shalky kind of hard sweet you can suck or chomp. Hmm, doesn't sound as good as it tastes does it?

    Celia- I used to get little white bags full of lollies for 20c, maybe my age is showing here?

    Christie- At least it smells good! It is a bit of an aquired taste!

    The Littlest Anchovie- I used to love the spearmint leaves in my little bag of sweeties, do you remember them? Thanks, glad to meet you!

    Well Readers, it's nice to remember when I could get 3 cobbers for 5c, and PaddlePops were 20c each, but overall it's nice to be grown up and sometimes enjoy my sweeties in alcohol! What do you think?

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  19. I adore musk sticks (note the present tense). I believe that Americans do not eat musk and dislike the idea because it is a deodorant scent. I remember reading about root beer during my childhood and being very excited to try it when I visited the US in my late teens. I was horrified to discover that it tastes like Vicks Vaporub.

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  20. Ohhhhhhh! I had to read this because Musk lollies have always made my stomach turn! I think my favourites were sour warheads, with nerds, fun dips, and anythinf gummy a close runner up. Coke bottle gummies! Oh, can you made those into a pannacotta for me? :D

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