When you think of Irish food do you think of corned beef and cabbage served with boiled potatoes, or does a “Study of Oven-Roasted Chicken on Braised Cabbage with a Confit of Cocoa Bean and Prosciutto” come to mind?

If you are more likely to think of the former than the latter, you are likely one of many from whom Irish cuisine deserves more respect.

In fact, the culinary heritage of Ireland is steeped in naturally available culinary ingredients — an immense array of seafood, grass-fed meats, and tender produce grown in rich soil, for example. And its chefs are bound only by their creativity whether preparing a classically hearty and satisfying lamb dish (see recipe) or the upscale dish mentioned above recently highlighted on the menu at Dunbrody House on the eastern coast of Ireland).

“I'm afraid the perception of Irish cuisine in America hasn't changed as much here as it has there,” says cookbook author Margaret Johnson.

“Most places in the U.S. that bill themselves as ‘Irish’ (pubs, etc.) generally just put a lyrical Irish name in front of things with names like Dublin cheeseburger or Waterford Wings. A pub owner once told me, ‘I've got to make a living, and that means giving the customers what they want.’”

Yet a look at Ireland's recent culinary history in the last quarter of the 20th century saw the emergence of a “new” Irish cuisine based on traditional ingredients handled in new ways. The emphasis is on fresh vegetables, fish (especially salmon and trout) oysters, mussels and other shellfish, traditional soda bread, a wide range of hand-made cheeses made across the country, and, of course, the potato. Indeed, traditional dishes, such as Irish stew, coddle (pork, bacon, potato stew), the Irish breakfast (scrambled eggs, bacon, sausages, black pudding, mushrooms, baked beans, hash browns, and half a tomato), and potato bread have enjoyed a resurgence in popularity.

Perhaps the biggest revolution in Irish cuisine began in the early 1960s and is credited to Myrtle Allen of Ballymaloe House/Restaurant in Cork and her daughter-in-law, Darina Allen. Myrtle took the freshest and best of Irish ingredients — meat reared on grass, fresh-picked produce and fish direct from the sea — and prepared them with a minimum of fuss using classic European, mainly Mediterranean, cooking methods. her goal was exposing worldly travelers and simple cooks alike to the pleasures of Ireland's natural bounty.

Items on her menu today include Baked Halibut with Herbed Hollandaise Sauce & Tomato Fondue; Roast Free-Range Guinea Fowl with Fresh Herb Stuffing, Red Currant Sauce and French Beans; and a Fritatta of Exotic Mushrooms, Olives, Tarragon & Organic Greens.

Darina Allen established Ballymaloe Cookery School in 1983. It is located in the middle of its own 100-acre organic farm, further educating gourmands on the delicious dishes of Ireland.

Closer to home, Chef Kevin Dundon, who owns the previously mentioned Dunbrody House, a very well known luxury country house-hotel in Ireland, has crossed over to America and holds influence in, of all places, Walt Disney World, in Orlando, FL.

In Ireland, his guests dine on Baked Filets of Cod with a Watercress Crust served on Tortellini of Goat's Cheese and Artichokes; Char-Grilled Fillet of Prime Wexford Beef with an Oxtail Cottage Pie; or, for non-meat eaters, Roasted Pumpkin, Red Pepper and Goat's Cheese Pie with a Nicoise Salad.

At his Raglan Road Irish Pub in downtown Disney, he tempts American customers with Oven-roasted Loin of Ham with an Irish Mist glaze served with Braised Cabbage and Creamed Potato; Pork Loin stuffed with Homemade Sausage drizzled with Honey Soy Glaze; or a Portobello mushroom cap “Burger” filled with Dubliner cheese and tomato relish.