Brave Themed Dinner

This week, we sampled some traditional Scottish dishes for our Brave themed dinner!

I’ve been wanting to do a Brave themed dinner for quite some time as it is one of my favorite Pixar movies. 

To create our menu, I considered using various food references straight from the film (roasted fish, apples, and spell cakes came to mind).  But ultimately, I decided to use traditional dishes from the film’s setting in Scotland. 

Prior to our Brave themed dinner, I didn’t know much about Scottish cuisine.  So, this was a great learning opportunity for me!  And during our Brave themed dinner I was able to share my new knowledge with my family.  I love learning about other cultures, and one of the best ways to do so is through their food! 

You may notice that Scotland’s national dish, haggis, is omitted from our menu.  While haggis is referenced in the film, it’s not something readily available for purchase in the States.  And much like the triplets in Brave, this is one traditional dish I didn’t think my kids would be willing to stomach.  (Sorry, couldn’t resist that one!)

Scotch Eggs

To kick off our Brave themed dinner, I decided to serve scotch eggs.  Scotch eggs are a common gastropub specialty consisting of boiled eggs wrapped in sausage, then battered and deep fried.

While this dish technically originated in London, scotch eggs have become a modern favorite in Scotland.  And I am a huge fan of scotch eggs, so I decided our Brave themed dinner was the perfect excuse to try making them myself!

On a past Disney trip, we dined at the Disney Spring’s Irish pub, Raglan Road, and sampled their Irish interpretation of the dish.  It was delicious, and I really enjoyed that their scotch eggs had runny yolks. 

Check out our full review of Raglan Road HERE!

Every scotch egg I had tried up to that point had been hard-boiled, but oh my gosh, soft-boiled is the way to go!

I wanted my scotch eggs to also have runny yolks, even though that meant preparation would be significantly trickier. 

I was soooo nervous about this undertaking, so I did lots of research to make sure I understood the proper techniques to achieve this result.  Ultimately, I used a recipe from The Good-Hearted Woman for our scotch eggs.  But rather than cook them in the airfryer, I decided to deep fry them.

Once it was time to cut the eggs in half, I crossed my fingers and hoped for runny yolks and fully cooked sausage.  To my delight, they came out perfectly! 

And they were soooo tasty.  This just may be my proudest cooking achievement in the kitchen.  Thank you so much Good-Hearted Woman for the great recipe and instructions!

Scottish Handheld Meat Pies

These handheld meat pies are known as Forfar Bridies in Scotland.  A Scottish Forfar Bridie is a meat and onion filled pastry that is often sold in bakeries and cafes across Scotland.

The recipe I used to make our Forfar Bridies came from Christina’s Cucina.  Traditional Forfar Bridies are made with shortcrust pastry, but I cheated and purchased puff pastry dough for ours.     

This recipe used simple ingredients and was very easy to assemble.  But despite the recipe’s simplicity, these meat pies were very flavorful!  They were a hit with the whole family.

Tattie Soup

As a side dish for our Brave themed dinner, I decided to make some Scottish potato soup, also known as tattie soup.  This was the perfect dish to enjoy this time of year, while we continue to endure winter storms and freezing temps.

The tattie soup recipe I used came from Scottish Scran.  Potatoes, carrots, onion, and leek all simmer on the stovetop to create this simple but satisfying dish.

This was a great, heartwarming recipe which made a wonderful addition to our Brave themed dinner.

Bannocks

While perusing Scottish recipes, I decided Bannocks would be the perfect accompaniment to our tattie soup.  Bannocks are a type of dense flatbread made with flour and typically cooked on a gridle or cast-iron skillet.

Our Bannocks recipe also came from Scottish Scran.  I was a little skeptical of how these would turn out, as the dough was quite dense and dry, but they were very delicious!  This recipe uses oat flour in addition to regular flour which added a toasty and nutty flavor to the finished product.

As I suspected, they made a great accompaniment to our tattie soup!

Empire Biscuits

For dessert, I was inspired by the platter of sweet treats the triplets hoard in Brave.  Now, there is some debate over what the exact dish is in the movie.  They appear to be some sort of iced roll, but after researching Scottish dishes, it seems most likely they were inspired by Empire Biscuits.

Empire Biscuits are a classic Scottish baked good.  They are made by sandwiching two shortbread cookies together with jam, then topped with icing and candied cherries.

I found the recipe to make these treats over at Christina’s Cucina. 

The kids really enjoyed the Empire Biscuits, but to be honest, I’m pretty sure I ate most of them!  They were that good.  And they were the perfect treat to end our Brave themed dinner.

I hope you enjoyed reading about our Brave themed dinner!  Not only did we discover some delicious new recipes, but we also learned new things about Scottish cuisine and culture.

Looking for other Disney-themed dinners?  Check out our Enchanted Themed Dinner and our Snow White Themed Dinner!

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