Rick Stein is one of Britain’s favourite chefs. Having written over 25 cookery books and made over 30 programmes, including 12 cooking series, he is trusted as a source of good food and tasty recipes. He runs the Rick Stein Group of restaurants, with his three sons involved too. But there is one family member he has gone back to through the years for one particular recipe.

His mum Dorothy Stein, or Dorrie, inspired Rick’s rhubarb crumble recipe, as the chef says she “never got it wrong”. In his book, titled “Rick Stein at Home”, he says rhubarb crumble is a pudding which is “about as close to the heart of British cooking as you can get”.

However, he asks: “Why is it so often disappointing?”

Stein finds the crumble to be the main culprit in sub-standard versions of this pudding, observing that it might be “too lean”, making it “rather dry and everlasting to eat”. Alternatively, it could be that the dish is undercooked, with the “pasty flavour of uncooked flour”.

Key for the filling is getting the balance of sugar correct, as Stein shares the secret to finding the right level.

He said: “It should be tart but not so much as to pucker the mouth.”

As for the type of rhubarb, Stein prefers the early forced variety, which appears in long rectangular boxes at the start of the year. With pale pink and delicate skin, it is “surprisingly sweet”, according to Stein, as it has not received much of the “teeth-biting” oxalic acid present in greener rhubarb stalks.

The only piece of kit required for this recipe is a food processor, while the ingredients list is 225g plain flour, 175g chilled cubed butter, 275g of caster sugar and 900g of rhubarb.

Clotted cream is recommended to serve with the crumble.

After pre-heating the oven to 190C, or 170C fan, the topping is begun by pulsing the flour and butter together in a food processor until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs.

After stirring in 100g of the sugar, the rest of the ingredients can be mixed with the rhubarb, itself cut into roughly inch-long pieces, and left for 15-20 minutes.

Once the rhubarb has slightly moistened, it can be spread over the base of a shallow ovenproof dish before the topping is sprinkled over.

Cooking time is 45-50 minutes until the top is golden brown, at which time the pudding can be served with clotted cream, just as Stein recommends.