Mention the word “Bessemer” to any Greek (or Italian!) and you will immediately see their faces light up! It’s true…I’m not kidding.
“My mum still has a lot of their stuff…” ”The cookware has been in my family for years” are just some of the reactions that come up in conversations with like minded foodies.
What is Bessemer you may ask?
Bessemer is a range of cookware produced here in Australia. The company has been in operation since the early 60′s selling their range of goodies through a party plan system. The funny thing is, I remember attending a lot of those parties as a kid, along with my mother. We lived in a predominantly Greek populated neighbourhood in Melbourne and I swear there was a Bessemer party held nearly every weekend for a whole year! You could say everyone was well stocked!
What makes Bessemer so special?
Without getting too technical it basically comes down to their sturdy design. They are constructed using a heavy cast aluminium that allows for even heating and better heat retention. They are also “non stick” so it makes those trickier cooking techniques like braising for longer periods and frying a breeze. You can find a lot more information regarding their design here.
It’s funny you know. When my parents decided to move back to Greece my mother asked me if I was interested in any of her beloved kitchen items, I jumped at the chance and asked for one of her Bessemer pots (I couldn’t be greedy and ask for all of them?…could I?). She’s had it for just under 20 years and you wouldn’t even know it! Apart from a little wear and tear it still looks great and performs remarkably well in my tiny kitchen! I was even more excited when I spoke with Pip from Woosh and she asked me if I was keen on trying some of the newer Bessemer cookware. Was I keen???? Oh yes! you betcha! A few days later I found myself excitedly unwrapping the delivery box with a frypan from the Country Kitchen range.
To bring back a little nostalgia I’m cooking up a Greek dish in honor of all the Greeks here in Australia who use this product. I braised some lamb shanks in a tomato sauce that was flavored with cinnamon. I love this flavor combination. I know a lot of people aren’t keen on cinnamon and you could omit it but it wouldn’t be the same in my opinion . Originally I wanted to braise some goat but couldn’t source any however the lamb shanks work well. Just a note- your house will really take on an enticing aroma when you are cooking this dish-you have been warned! A traditional way of serving this would be with “hilopites”- a Greek home made pasta. I didn’t have any on hand at the time, so I used some dried egg noodles. After a few hours of braising the shanks in your Country Kitchen pan, the meat should be falling off the bone. I like to pull all the meat off the bone and add it back to the rich, red sauce and serve it tosssed with the noodles. For a final Greek touch grate some “mizithra” over it-if you don’t have any Pecorino or Romano make good substitutes.
- 1 onion finely diced
- 1 carrot finely diced
- 1 stalk of celery finely diced
- 2-3 cloves of garlic finely diced
- 3-4 lamb shanks
- 2 cups of sieved tomatoes or a large bottle of passata (mine was 690grams)
- 1 tablespoon of tomato paste
- 1 large stick of cinnamon or 2 smaller ones
- 1 cup of chicken stock
- 1/3 cup of red wine
- 2 dried bay leaves
- salt and pepper to taste
- Heat a little olive oil in a deep frypan, add the shanks and lightly brown on all sides. Remove and set aside.
- Add a little more oil, the onion, carrot, garlic and celery and fry until translucent.
- Add the tomatoes, tomato paste, stock, red wine, cinnamon stick and bay leaves and give everything a good stir.
- Add the browned shanks and bring to the boil and then lower your heat to a simmer.
- Simmer shanks on a low heat for approximately 2-3 hours (this will depend on their size) or until the meat is falling off the bone
- Remove the shanks and set aside to cool down. Once cooled down a little proceed to remove meat completely from the bone.
- Remove the bay leaves and cinnamon stick from the sauce and add back the shredded meat.
- Give everything a good stir and ladle the sauce and meat over some cooked egg noodles.
- Top with a sharp grated cheese such as mizithra or Romano.
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Hi! I'm Peter. Welcome to Souvlaki For The Soul. My "little" space on the web. My blog is choc full of recipes, travel stories and photos. Have a good look around and enjoy your time here. Cheers!
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interesting memories – i remember tupperware parties in NZ in the same way
the weather is cooling down here, perfect for this delicious dish
Finally get to see the final result after you been raving about it. Oh my, it is sure a beautiful dish, and even I am not greek, I feel like having a Bessemer now! But I’ll have the lamb shank first!
LOL! I know. I love my cookware!
OMG, that looks soooooo good! It is exactly the dish I’d love to eat for supper. Splendid flavors and terrific shots!
Cheers,
Rosa
Oh my, it looks so good!
Not familiar with that cookware line but if you endorse it, it’s good enough for me for sure! I love lamb shanks but don’t think I’ve ever knowingly had them made with cinnamon…I know I haven’t made it that way yet but I’m off to the market and may pick up some shanks. You’ve whetted my appetite.
I love it when I taste a hint of cinnamon in a savory dish. This recipe looks delightful and will serve a lovely meal of comfort once the weather cools here. Cheers.
Holy smokes Peter, as soon as the weather gets colder I’m making this! Wowzer. Except I am not as cool as you and don’t have one of those groovy pots.
I’ve seen all the bessemer ads on TV and have thought whether they were really THAT good… the fact that you mentioned Greek mothers use it – well that says it all! Your post honestly makes me want to buy some – I’m due to replace my pots and pans soon! And those lamb shanks – I’d better make them before the weather turns!
This sounds just up my street. My husband will love this, and so will i. The presentation is great!
Great dish Peter! I also attended many Bessemer parties as a kid and recently got some cookware to try too. They’ve definitely come a long way colour-wise from the 70s orange (although I love the iconic pieces!).
sometimes i use spices for indonesian rendang for beef, lamb, chicken, tofu n tempe. very rich n i can even imagine this flavour!
I’ve taken to cooking lamb shanks recently so this recipe sounds gorgeously enticing! Thanks a million!
Strangely, the Bessemer factory (just up the road from my mum’s place) recently closed/moved and has been demolished to make way for apartments or something. I’ve always been intrigued by why there was a crowd of ladies outside every few months – they had ‘open days’ for the public. I would have lined up, too, if I’d known how good their cookware is! And love the lamb shanks.
OMG!! If I could, I would really like to dig into that.. I’ll bring my fork, shall I?!
Hey Peter
That looks great my friend! I would imagine goat would have been terrific too. Lebanese butchers usually stock goat (or can order it in for you). Do you cover the pot while you simmer? I’d imagine the liquid would dissapear otherwise. The style of cookware looks like ones mom used to use, though I don’t think we had Bessemer in Lebanon. Though I think there was a song about it, bessemer mucho or something
Sorry, cheesy joke.
Thanks for the cheesy joke Fouad! LOL! I partly cover the pot whilst it simmers away…sorry forgot to write that up!
ohhh what a recipe!!!i can smell it over here!!!damn i’m greek and didn’t know of bessemer!?!?!always something new for me!!!
Wow the color on those shanks is incredible. I can almost smell the sweet spicy cinnamon.
Peter this has been bookmarked – we’re heading into that cooler weather and I know I will be making this or something heavily influenced my this dish! Golly I love all the flavors!
the colour of this dish is so deep… love it
wow! Love that cookware.And the shanks looks absolutely fabulous. It reminds me of Indian Mutton Stew (which can also be made of lamb or goat) and has similar whole spices.
http://journeykitchen.blogspot.com/2010/01/indian-mutton-stew.html
My mum is the queen of Bessemer. She has a pot that can fit a pigs head ehehhe. I love these shanks. I want to try the recipe out on a slow cooker.
I’m fascinated by Bessemer after hearing you rave on about it so much. lol. And that vacuum cleaner I was talking about was Bissell – apparently I used to love singing the jingle when I was little. lol
oh Peter The smell through the house must be amazing…
Oh Peter – what a scream. Bessemer!!! They where – and still are – pride possessions in any Greek Mum’s kitchen. I remember they where not cheap so Mum had to save her 50 cent coins to buy her collection. When I moved to Cyprus she sent me a Bessener Wok!!! Love it. By the way the food looks great. Thanks.
Ahhhhh….the meat appears to just fall off the bone Peter. I better stop browsing and have some breakfast to stop my tummy from rumbling.
I’ve always been intimidated with Lamb Shanks but this doesn’t seem too difficult and it looks SO good!
Your Cinnamon Shanks look wonderful ! I need to make them quickly as the weather has warmed up so much in Brisbane !! I have Bessemer and have only had trouble with the coating coming off – not happy Jan as they are so expensive
Bessemer.. Yesss!!!! I’m not Greek, but these saucepans were a big deal in Central NSW with my Gran when I was little, I remember Gran insisting it was ‘The Bessemer” that made stuff taste so good. Love the addition of cinnamon too & I’d love to try this dish with goat. Thanks for sharing. Cheers Anna
This will be a perfect cold, wet Saturday night dinner – thanks. I’m off to the butcher now!
I remember Bessemer parties, too, and I have a friend who still uses her 20 year old Bessemer pan and swears by it.
Haven’t heard of it around for years, though!
Oh this looks so good! You know it is impossible to find lamb shanks in Greece, as the animals are so small one has to purchase the whole leg and half the ribs!
Lolll Peter i love my “Bessemer” toooo … wonderful dish can’t wait to try it .
Ok, I have to admit I’ve been sitting in front of my laptop staring at that last photo for a good 2-3 minutes, stomach growling. If only I had some lamb shanks in the fridge this would be dinner! And I’m intrigued by the Bessemer cookware – I’d never heard of it before. Sounds good though, especially if your mum had hers for 20ish years!
Peter, that really looks great. Being part Greek myself I grew up eating lamb but have never combined it with cinnamon, which I love. We’re headed toward autumn here in California, so you know I’m going to try this. We don’t have Bessemer, but I’ll use my Le Creuset, as usual for braising.
absolutely delicious! I saw this post the other day, and have been thinking of it since!
mmmm, I love all sorts of braised shanks but lamb is my favorite! I must be honest and say I have yet to try cinnamon with lamd but it is going on to my must try list. I can only imagine how fabuolous your house smelled whilst this was cooking away!
The lamb shanks looks so delicious! Im saving this recipe to make sometime soon!
OMG HELLO! I want to dive right in! I can just about smell it!
Your cinnamon braised lamb looks delicious, I’ve experimented with cinnamon and nutmeg in meat and the result is juicy slightly sweet tasting meat.
Oh, those lamb shanks look SO good. Especially in that gorgeous bottom photo. I’m always looking for new ways to enjoy our homegrown grass fed lamb, and I don’t think I’ve ever had it with cinnamon. I just picked up a lamb from the butcher last week, and he mistakenly cut the shanks into two pieces, so mine won’t look as pretty as yours, but I bet it will taste divine. Thanks for the delicious inspiration. Loved reading your Bessemer cookware stories, too. It sounds like wonderful stuff!
This reminds me so much of the type of stuff I ate growing up, Peter (although we never classed it up enough for shanks, lol, but i do so now
Cinnamon is SO good with lamb it’s ridiculous. Beautiful dish.
I’m going to have to research those pans! They look and sound phenomenal! And so does this dish!
I love slow cooked Greek dishes with cinammon. This is on my must do list!
This looks absolutely delicious. Love the combination of ingredients. Yum!
The addition of cinnamon to the recipe sounds amazing! Would’ve made the house smell delicious & the neighbours green with envy! And you’ve talked up the Bessemer range so much I feel like I need one now!
Thanks for a great recipe.It looks so good!It is exactly the dish I’d love to eat for supper
I love lamb and this looks a cracking recipe thanks!
Peter, being a dreary wet afternoon in Sydners I decided to make this. The flat did indeed smell terrific and the sauce was brilliant. Unfortunately I didn’t have any Bessemer cookware, (which I am sure would have made it spectacular). In England they were marketed under the name Clubware, my mother sold them so I can testify just how good their stuff was.
Thanks, great recipe and love the photos. What sort of settings do you use to get the saturated, vintage, grainy feel to your photos?
Cheers
Gareth
Hello! Thank you very much for this lovely recipe! We’ve enjoyed it very much yesterday and it is definitely gonna be on our table often! The dish is fabulous!!!
Hi Peter,
Thank you for sharing your recipe.
I made this yummy dish last night for dinner – it was a perfect wintery meal, hearty and full of flavour! We are looking forward to enjoying the leftovers for dinner tonight
-Aimee
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