Burt Lancaster’s Beef Curry – Tufnell Park – The Great Bear – Stop #10

There was a time, not too far in the past, when people could do whatever the hell they wanted, whenever the hell they wanted to. Me and Mr R would regularly spend a Sunday afternoon transporting a strange foodstuff to a tube station on the Northern Line and then eating it. This was all part of an adventure called “The Great Bear Project” inspired by the fabulous mind explosion that is Simon Patterson’s The Great Bear. Here’s a little part of it…

He reimagined all the stations as famous people. The Northern Line stops were all named after movie stars so of course, that’s a recipe for me to cook up their favourite dishes and pose with the roundel. In this case, way back in February with a thermos of rice and a thermos of Burt Lancaster’s curry.

I have neglected writing up the most recent of these adventures and now the whole endeavour seems utterly bizarre. That we could do this madcap thing, whenever we had a Sunday at our disposal and felt like having a jaunt. I am sincerely hoping that by the time I have caught up with my accounts of these assignments, life will be back to normal and we’ll be able to embark upon the next one.

I think blogging the trip to Tufnell Park with Burt’s Curry has encountered a stumbling block for me because it was without a doubt my favourite of all the Great Bears so far. It was POURING with rain but we had so much fun. I think the photos say it all.

The curry? It was great. But I think the fact we were eating it out of two thermos flasks in a fabulous little secret hidden away park that Mr R had discovered on a map made it super special.

One of my 3 favourite days of the year so far!

Ever since I made this dish, I have been keeping peeled ginger in sherry in my fridge as per the note in this recipe, and it works a treat. No more bits and bobs of ginger going soft and soggy in the freezer. Genius! Thanks, Burt (or probably Johna Blinn who featured Burt’s recipe in her Celebrity Cookbook and I suspect is responsible for the notes).

Mr Rathbone’s Tube Trivia

Just down the Junction Road from the frankly underwhelming Archway stop is the altogether more handsome Tufnell Park tube station. 

Resplendent in it’s ‘glazed terracotta’ tiling – a familiar feature of other Northern Line stations designed by Leslie Green – it sits on a crossroads where five roads meet, heading on their various routes to Camden, Kentish Town, Holloway, Archway or up the long hill to Highgate.

Originally opened in 1907, it was for most of its first forty years, a stone’s throw away from the long-gone Junction Road railway station, providing a link for trains to Tottenham, Barking and beyond, but that’s another story.

Tufnell Park also faces the grand, grade 2 listed Boston Arms public house. Originally opened in 1884 as a community centre, it has served as a cinema, swimming pool, boxing hall and dance hall and is now a celebrated music venue.

And as for the ‘park’ itself? It lies hidden behind the back streets, just like the delightful little gardens we ate Burt’s curry in!

Aw, thanks Mr R. I do believe that is the actual bench we sat on in the rain to eat our curry.

Weren’t it lovely when we could all go out and about in the world willy nilly?

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