AMONG the more colourful experiences during my time as a rock and roll touring chef was six eye-opening weeks spent cooking for Guns n Roses and crew on the infamous ‘Use Your Illusion’ European tour during the early 1990s.

As chef on this momentous tour I saw things that would make your clotted cream curdle, off and on stage but you know what they say ‘what happened on the road... ‘ Izzy Stradlin, the rhythm guitarist, was generally the only one sober enough to eat and regularly requested apple crumble and custard which he would eat in his side stage bothy during Slash’s solo.

Each member of the band had one of these side stage hideaways which they used for various leisure pastimes, Slash, Mats and Duffs were basically bars and Axl requested six cans of pressurised cream but never any pudding to go with it.

Glasgow Times:

For the perfect crumble pick a tart apple like Cox’s or Braeburn and the choice is yours whether to stew the filling first or start raw, when it comes to toppings: nuts, seeds, oats, crushed amaretti biscuits and even corn-flakes are all good variations.

It’s the classic pudding; hot, sweet, and incredibly comforting.

Ingredients

For the crumble

300g/10½oz plain flour, sieved pinch of salt

175g/6oz unrefined brown sugar

200g/7oz unsalted butter, cubed at room temperature

Knob of butter for greasing

For the filling

450g/1lb apples, peeled, cored and cut into 1cm/½in pieces

50g/2oz unrefined brown sugar

1 tbsp plain flour

1 pinch of ground cinnamon

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4.

2. Place the flour and sugar in a large bowl and mix well. Taking a few

cubes of butter at a time rub into the flour mixture. Keep rubbing until

the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.

3. Place the fruit in a large bowl and sprinkle over the sugar, flour and

cinnamon. Stir well being careful not to break up the fruit.

4. Butter a 24cm/9in ovenproof dish. Spoon the fruit mixture into the

bottom, then sprinkle the crumble mixture on top.

5. Bake in the oven for 40-45 minutes until the crumble is browned and

the fruit mixture bubbling.

6. Serve with thick cream or custard.

Less than 30 mins preparation time/30 mins to 1 hour cooking time

Serves 4