Dinner and a Movie: The Master of Ballantrae

Remember my Burns Night Roast Lamb Dinner? Well, there are two of us, so that means we were left with a good amount of leftover roast lamb. So, something fortuitous (at least to my mind) occurred. I had recorded The Master of Ballantrae from TCM and I had bookmarked a couple recipes for Scotch Broth. It's just the sort of thing to eat while immersing oneself in Jack Cardiff's technicolor Highlands.*

Scotch Broth

For the lamb broth:
Bones from a lamb roast
2 gallons water
1 large onion
sprigs of parsley
sprigs of thyme
a couple of bay leaves

For the soup:
2 carrots, chopped
3 leeks, white and light green parts only, thinly sliced
1/2 cup pearl barley
1 tablespoon sea salt
black pepper
1/2 white or green cabbage, shredded
1 lb cooked lamb, shredded

For the broth, put all of the "lamb broth" ingredients in a large stock pot or dutch oven. Bring to a boil, then turn down the heat and simmer 3 hours, partially covered. Check every once in a while to make sure the heat isn't too high or low. After three hours, strain the stock into a large bowl, refrigerate until needed. This step can be done up to several days in advance. The volume of the remaining stock should be about 3 to 4 quarts.

To make the soup, bring the stock to a boil and add the carrots, leeks, pearl barley, salt and pepper. Partially cover and boil 35 minutes, adding the cabbage for the last 10 minutes, covering fully. Divide the lamb between eight bowls and cover with soup.

Serves 8

Adapted from "Scotch Broth" in Carol Wilson and Christopher Trotter, Scottish Traditional Recipes (London: Hermes House, 2005), 91 and "Scotch Broth" in Julia Jones and Barbara Deer, Cattern Cakes and Lace (London: Dorling Kindersley, 1987), 36.

Poster from Doctor Macro. 

Sure, by the time he made The Master of Ballantrae, Errol Flynn was kind of old (and looked even older). Roger Livesey was kind of old. Now I'll face possible ridicule and admit that I haven't read the novel, but it seems like Stevenson probably imaged younger heroes. I'm just saying if this had been made ten or fifteen years earlier, it would have been more convincing. However, while not among the best Errol Flynn movies, this one is entertaining (and the cinematography is great). Lady Alison (Beatrice Campbell) really irked me, but the film has its bright spots, including Roger Livesey who really steals the show as Colonel Burke. 

Profile of Roger Livesey from The Powell and Pressburger Pages

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*

Do you remember the little machine that looked like a TV, but your teacher put a cassette tape and a roll of film in it? I can't find a photo online, because I have no idea what they were called. Anyway, the narrator in this clip totally reminds me of the narrators for those National Geographic slide shows.

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Submitted to: Fight Back Friday, Sunday Night Soup Night, Monday Mania