Irish chef Richard Corrigan's classic Christmas menu

The legendary chef explains how to make the perfect roastie, why turkey still triumphs over beef and the unusual ingredient in his Christmas pudding.

It's only 16:00 on a freezing autumn afternoon in central London but the daylight outside has already started to fade. As chef Richard Corrigan descends a staircase into the elegant Art Deco bar of his Mayfair restaurant Bentley's Oyster Bar & Grill, however, he brings with him a blast of energy and exuberance to blow away any gloom brought on by the darkness outside. 

The larger-than-life character roars with laughter and tells riotous stories that underline his reputation as a bon vivant who has pretty much seen and done it all in the world of food.

Corrigan is a legendary figure in London's dining landscape, and 2024 marks 30 years since he first won a Michelin star and 46 since he started working as a trainee chef in his childhood home of County Meath, just north of Dublin. 

Today, in addition to Bentley's, he runs the restaurants Corrigan's Mayfair, Daffodil Mulligan, Gibney's London, The Portrait Restaurant (atop The National Portrait Gallery in London's Trafalgar Square) and Virginia Park Lodge in Ireland's County Cavan. He has published two books and made countless TV appearances – including winning BBC's the Great British Menu no fewer than three times and serving as a judge on the show. He has also cooked for guests including Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and Barack Obama, in a dinner at 10 Downing Street. 

I ask him how the pressure of cooking for those very special diners compares with cooking for his family at Christmas?

"I think [preparing a meal for relatives is] even more stressful because my kitchen isn't professional," he replied. "I have a fan oven that only takes so much and they're all sitting there, expecting miracles, thinking they're in some (expletive) posh Michelin restaurant, while their old man is working his nuts off."

Hilarious and candid in equal measure, the answer is peak Corrigan and makes it easy to imagine why Christmas at home with him would be unforgettable, on multiple levels. 

To put the Christmas feast on his home dining table into context, he first talks about his childhood. He grew up on a 25-acre farm, one of seven children.

"I'm a farmer with a restaurant. I'm the real deal, I'm the country bumpkin. I have a love of meadows, corncrakes, curlews, the waders and wild ducks coming in to roost. We had an outside dairy where everything was prepped; milk, butter and buttermilk were all made out there. It was built under the trees, so it was cold in summer, and really cold in winter. My father shot rabbits, then there'd be eels and a few pheasants hanging in the house." 

It was a bounty that inspired Corrigan's profound love of the finest ingredients, which ends up on his own dining table in North London as well as those in his restaurants. Come Christmas Day, everything is in place for a day of classic festive feasting with his family. Here's Corrigan's classic Christmas menu:

"So, at 11:00 on Christmas Day we always have a bit of smoked salmon from Sally Barnes at Woodcock Smokery in West Cork.  I'll take a paper-thin slice of it, put a little milled pepper on it and I just let it melt on my tongue, I wouldn't even dare close my lips, just let the oils of the wild salmon seep in. Then I like to warm my soda bread ever so slightly, put some Lincolnshire Poacher butter then a bit of smoked salmon. Take a nibble – don't take a bite." 

Bottles of chilled Champagne are opened around the same time, then oysters are served from Rossmore in County Cork in Ireland and Loch Ryan in Scotland. Corrigan adds that he also used to serve langoustines and prawns, but: "we realised there's no need – salmon and oysters are the perfect start".

The main event happens around 16:00 and features an epic festive spread enjoyed by Corrigan, his wife Maria and especially their three children: "For kids who have travelled the world, they're suckers for a good traditional Christmas lunch."

Corrigan explains that ham is a crucial part of any Irish Christmas table, whether in his childhood home or his current home, London.

"The ham on the bone would have been done the day before, the classic hock riddled with brown sugar, cloves and honey. At home [growing up in Ireland] maybe there'd be a bit of a marmalade if mam was feeling very Robert Carrier" (an American who was one of the first TV chefs, from the 1960's onwards).

"When you bake it, and you let it rest, you don't need to serve ham warm. It can just be served, carved beautifully to a certain thickness – it should never be carved thin... you should be able to cut it with your knife, not fold it with a fork."

The hero protein in much of the world for Christmas lunch or dinner, turkey continues to divide diners between those who love it and those who are happy that it's only served once a year. Over the years, Corrigan has tried serving other birds.

"I've done mallards, pheasant, goose and one year an homage to all the birds. But if you're looking for a wonderful slice of meat, you never feel fulfilled with them; there's never enough to go around with a goose."

Now, he says, "It's time to bring turkey back to the table. Christmas is not roast beef. In Ireland, turkey was always over-fed, it was a really big bird, 16-18lb [7.2-8.2kg]. Because they were free range, they tasted great. They were heavily grain-fed, also on a root vegetable called a mangel (also known as a mangold) that we'd cook in a big pot with oatmeal."

At home he serves a Kelly Bronze turkey, but it's a sauce that really makes his eyes light up with excitement.

"Cranberry sauce, to me, is the most delicious thing. Cranberries cooked in some port with a zest of orange. Before they break down, take them off the heat, let them go cold and then grate some fresh horseradish on top. Hallelujah! It really lifts even the most boring piece of country turkey, the bird that couldn't fly, the Irish ostrich!" 

"I can make a roastie – I could make a roastie out of a (expletive) stone." 

The enthusiasm is again tangible as Corrigan explains his way with roast potatoes, known as "roasties" in much of the UK and Ireland.

"I just parboil good old red potatoes, either Golden Wonder or British Queen. They're really soft but make a great roast potato because they're fluffy – you just have to handle them carefully.

Cook them in their skins, take them out before they're cooked and then let them steam so the skins crack. Then let them cool down, take the skins off ever so carefully, then get your goose fat and a bit of butter for good measure.

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Let it splutter away nicely and slowly, don't rush it, you don't want high heat on them, then all of a sudden, they become like little crystallised snowflake stars, like a snowflake under a microscope, as cracks within cracks appear. They fluff up, and once I get a bit of colour on them on the stove, I put them into a nice hot oven. You could eat the outside and mash the inside – that's my perfect roastie."

Many recipes for traditional Christmas turkey stuffing feature sausage meat, but the idea sees Corrigan launch into another tirade.

"Sausage meat gets in the way; you're not making a meatloaf! I still think mam's stuffing was the best. Take white breadcrumbs and onions and as much butter as they could absorb, [along with] parsley, sage, black pepper, a squeeze of lemon or lemon zest and a tiny bit of salt at the end. The onions have to be plentiful, but with no colourisation, they still need to look and feel like an onion. Just bread and herbs – you don't need sausage!"

Despite his clear love of all things meaty, Corrigan is adamant that vegetables are just as crucial for a Christmas feast. 

"The vegetables should be as good as the main act. We know what fresh is; veg should not be sitting in a fridge for five weeks. You pick it, you wash it, [the] next day you cook it. Use fresh vegetables, natural, organic if at all possible. If you're living near a farm, go and knock on the farmer's door and just buy them off them." 

"I love my parsnips not to be too soft and I love Brussel sprouts with a bite. I don't want them mushy like mam's boiled cabbage, you know what I mean? And respect my veg, don't put bacon on top of them! If you have a few chestnuts, then wonderful, go for the Santa Claus feel."

The festive feast finishes, of course, with Christmas pudding.

"Christmas pudding at home was never too dry, it was always incredibly, beautifully alcoholic – and goddamn rich. Guinness and whiskey, lots of dried fruit and peels. Always grated carrot in there too as it keeps it moist and gives a natural sweetness without using too much brown sugar.

It'd be wrapped in muslin then boiled in the big beautiful old brown basins. We'd serve it with custard and cream – no brandy butter in our house. You can't beat a crème Anglaise (a light French take on custard) with good vanilla essence – you don't need Madagascan vanilla. I'd drink it in a pint glass."

It sounds like the perfect toast to Christmas.

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