How about the traditional collar of bacon – what are your recommendations for getting the best out of this cut?

Again you need to get a good supplier of the bacon. I use a collar from my friends in Tipperary and it’s a joint of meat that is fit for anyone, kings, queens, emperors. It really is a piece of meat that is a feast in itself. The cabbage is a wonderful little accompaniment to it, lightly cooked, ever so slightly salted butter. Colman’s mustard on the side if you can have it. I think a really lovely English / Irish relationship is Colman’s mustard and Irish bacon.

Which ingredients would you say are the best that Ireland produces, that you can only really get from Ireland?

I struggled to get proper bacon in Britain over the last 24 or 25 years. I don’t know why, but I’ve struggled. I’m sure 40 years ago in Britain I could get in anywhere out in the country. But a lot of these small butcher abattoirs have closed and I think an awful lot of skills died with them. When you see how bacon is produced now, I despair. That’s not bacon that’s just ham. Proper bacon still has a huge relevance in Ireland. People hanker after good bacon and there’s been an absolutely huge resurgence with it. But the Brits know how to make great sausages – end of story! But the Irish when it comes to a good bacon cure, I don’t know anyone doing it as good as my buddies in Ireland.

What is it about Irish food right now that you particularly admire?

I’m a huge fan of so many people in Ireland. A lot of the traditions of Irish food are hanging around a British country house tradition. It’s not far removed from what you would class here as country house cuisine. It’s an old found sense of hospitality which you don’t see as much. In Ireland you get these lovely old houses with a very singular style of country food. You might call it old fashioned – I call it delicious.

What are some of the preconceptions you’ve heard about Irish food – any that you would like to set straight?

Well a sous chef once said to me “How many potato dishes can you Irish chefs cook?” The fact of the matter is there’s a really good culture of potato growing that’s very unique. A lot of it is based down in Wexford in the Hook peninsula. When you go down there and taste the potatoes that come out of that soil, then you realise “Ooops I can’t get these in London, I can’t get these in Britain”. A lot of them are exported to Britain by the large farmers there. But they’re exported very quietly and put away with a little secret handshake. There is some incredible farming going on in Ireland and a big movement back to a real natural ethos and a real balance with nature again.

We love your Honey and Stout Tart, which is a new recipe to our site. How did you come up with that idea and what type of stout should you use?

A lot of food writing just goes back 40 or 50 years, but if you dig a lot further back in the 1600’s or 1700’s. People were making stout-like drinks from barley and there was an awful lot of honey around. So you don’t have to do a lot of research to find honey and stout being used in a lot of recipes. Stout is a London drink really that fell out of fashion during the Napoleonic wars when there was a tax placed on barley growing in the UK which didn’t happen in Ireland. So traditional stout declined in England but blossomed in Ireland. There are still pockets around Britain that make brilliant stout or porter and it was drunk in the London markets. But when stout is reduced it becomes sweet in itself with a honey like consistency so it’s not a bad mix to have at all.

Just make sure you use a fantastic quality of stout and if you can find a small local artisan maker, even better as you’ll get even more flavour. Stay away from those that have more of a burnt taste. Some of them will be so harsh and heavy that they really won’t work in that recipe.

Visit Richard Corrigan's website for more on his work and restaurants. You can also follow him on Twitter @CorrigansFood