Honey ale soda bread with hand-churned butter

Soda bread in Ireland is so much better than the pale, dense, occasionally dusty loaves you might have tried from supermarkets. Wheaten bread, made with wholewheat flour and often flavoured with porter, seaweed or black treacle is a revelation for its speed, simplicity, taste and homeliness. This version with brown ale is seedy and robust, and makes a perfect accompaniment to a plate of fresh oysters.

Handmade butter is a luxury that must be tried, not only for its purity of taste and texture, but for the magic of watching the transformation. The jam jar method is remarkably easy and a good way to entertain kids in the kitchen. Once you have your basic butter, you can flavour it with garlic, herbs, seaweed or crystallised sea salt. The buttermilk, of course, should be used to make the soda bread!