Traditions and customs: recipe and game

Nottingham Bramley Apple Pudding Recipe

  • Batter Pudding Mixture (using 2 eggs)
  • 4 evenly sized Bramley Cooking apples
  • 50g/2ozs butter
  • 50g/2ozs demerara sugar
  • Nutmeg Cinnamon
  1. Pre-heat the oven to 200℃/Gas 6
  2. Make up the batter pudding mixture, beat well and leave to rest in the fridge.
  3. Butter a shallow oven proof dish about 2inches (5cm) deep and big enough to hold the apples and batter mixture.
  4. Cream the butter and sugar together, adding a pinch each of Nutmeg and Cinnamon to taste.
  5. Peel and core the apples.
  6. Fill the centres of the apples equally with the butter and sugar mixture.
  7. Remove the batter mixture from the fridge and beat very well once more.
  8. Place the apples in the dish, well-spaced out and pour the batter mixture over them, allowing it to run into the bottom of the dish.
  9. Immediately place in the preheated oven and bake for 45-50 minutes.
  10. Serve with custard or cream.

Ring the bull

In one of the cave alcoves below The Trip to Jerusalem you can find a traditional pub game called ringing the bull.

This game is found across the entire country and a World Championships was held in Cambridgeshire; however, it is also popular internationally, especially in the Caribbean where it is known as Ring the Fish.

Legend has it that the game was first brought back by the crusaders.

How to play

  • The game is made up of a metal hook set into the wall with a metal ring attached to a rope opposite.
  • The aim of the game is to place the ring over the hook (or horn, as it may have been originally).
  • Often the person will have a number of attempts, throwing it in a clockwise direction straight onto the ring, or sometimes anticlockwise, which is harder.
  • To make it more challenging, sometimes it is reported that the throw circles the room three times before it lands, showing how skill can be involved in such a simple game.

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