True characters

Frank Hederman,artisan smoker

Smoking fish . .. is a lifelong commitment. To paraphrase Lady Rothschild, the first 250 years are the hardest. In my opinion you are only getting into your stride after a quarter of a century. Anyone can buy an industrial kiln and programme it to smoke fish, but it won't come near the traditional process.

Irish salmon. . . if carefully sourced, is a delight to work with. There's sense of satisfaction, pleasure and fun. Watching a baby tasting their first piece of smoked salmon still does it for me every time.

A word of advice. . . never buy sliced salmon. The way we suggest our customers slice their salmon is vertically straight down to the skin, with a sharp knife and as thin as you can. Then ease the slice off the skin with the knife. One of our London chefs actually takes it a step further and cuts thick slices right down to the skin, and surprisingly it really works. Having the right salmon helps, of course.

If I weren't doing what I'm doing now. . . I'd be an overnight success.

I work with . . .my wife, my daughter, my father, my son, the crew at Belvelly, the crew at the English Market and the crew in London. We have a large support network of consultants to help us wade through the regulation, and then there's the smoked mussel helpline.

My favourite things to smoke are . .. apart from salmon, whole smoked mackerel. Anything cooked on the bone tastes better, and the less you interfere with something, the better. They look like bars of gold when they are finished. They're now on the breakfast menu at the Savoy Grill in London. We also smoke butter, great for adding flavour to spuds and sauces, and porridge, which Robert Ditty turns into a fine smoked oatcake.

To secure a future for traditional Irish foods. . . more of us need to value it, buy it, eat it, celebrate it, mark special occasions with it, give it as gifts, take it abroad with us, be proud of it. In France, producers make food to eat. In Ireland, there is a tendency to make food to flog.

My dream dinner party guests would be . .. Maria Callas, Winston Churchill, Pablo Picasso, FE McWilliam, Denis Healy, Silke Cropp and Kevin O'Keeffe.

The menu . . .smoked eel (it's a dream dinner party, after all) to start, and then one of Tom Clancy's chickens, roasted with smoked garlic and sherry, Willie's potatoes from Ballycotton, and Barrys of Ballintubber carrots and purple sprouting broccoli. Then our pear and chocolate frangipane.

My ideal Sunday is spent .. . making tea in bed for Mrs H, even if it's her day to make tea. Taking Beatrice (4) for a scoot in Fota Gardens. Then a little Upstairs, Downstairs by the fire.

I'm really good at . . .I've been told recently that I'm really good with TV crews.

I wish I were better at. . . sending the thank-you letters that I have written, and responding to voice- and emails.

I often imagine myself . .. working with stone. As a sculptor, or wall builder or sculptural wall builder.

Not many people know this about me but .. . I love flower-arranging and training roses. I have about seven pairs of secateurs, but I can never find any.

Frank Hederman trades at the English Market in Cork, and in Cobh and Midleton Farmers' Markets. frankhederman.com

In conversation with Marie-Claire Digby