Parmo
Alternative namesTeesside Parmesan
Place of originEngland
Region or stateTeesside
Created byNicos Harris
Main ingredientsChicken or pork cutlet, béchamel sauce, cheese

Parmo, or Teesside Parmesan,[1] is a dish originating in Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England,[2] and a popular item of take-away food in the Teesside area. It consists of a breaded cutlet of chicken or pork topped with a white béchamel sauce and cheese, usually cheddar.

The name is a reference to the American dish chicken parmesan, which is made with tomato sauce and mozzarella,[3] which is itself a derivation of the Italian melanzane alla parmigiana.[4]

In an April 2019 survey, parmo ranked 20th in Britain's Top 20 Favourite Takeaways.[5]

History

Origins

Parmo was created by Nicos Harris, a Greek American navy chef. He was wounded off the coast of France, and brought to the United Kingdom to be treated at what is now James Cook University Hospital, Middlesbrough. He stayed in Middlesbrough and opened a restaurant, The American Grill, on Linthorpe Road, where he created the parmo in 1958. His son-in-law, Caramello, still lived in Teesside as of 2007, continuing the family tradition.[3]

Supermarket sales

In 2008, Teesside business man Geoff Johns started the Jeff the Chef company to make and sell "cook-chill-reheat" parmos, which are baked and then blast-chilled, before being packaged up for sale through supermarkets and other commercial outlets.

Initially serving a few local shops, the product was quickly taken up by supermarket chain Asda, and by July 2009, Asda were selling 6,000 a week in the Teesside region.[6][7] In a profile of Jeff the Chef in 2017, it was stated that the company employed 20 staff at the Skippers Lane Industrial Estate in Middlesbrough, and they were making 10,000 parmos a week, to supply around 100 stores in North East England, including Asda, Morrisons, Sainsbury's, the Co-op, and some independents.[8]

Application for PDO/TSG status

During his successful 2017 election campaign for Tees Valley Mayor, Ben Houchen promised that he'd work to get the parmo protected status. "It's a key part of our local culture and we should be proud of Teesside and the things we produce".[9]

An application for official recognition of the parmo as a traditional speciality in the UK was submitted in July 2021.[10] To qualify for the TSG (Traditional Speciality Guaranteed) label, a food must be of "specific character" to differentiate it clearly from similar products, and its raw materials, production method, or processing must be "traditional" (which is defined as "proven usage on the domestic market for a period that allows transmission between generations; this period is to be at least 30 years").[11]

Appearance on MasterChef

On 8 March 2018, one of the contestants on the BBC cooking programme MasterChef prepared a parmo for the competition. Anthony O'Shaughnessy used panko breadcrumbs and extra mature cheddar cheese, and accompanied the dish with spicy beetroot ketchup (for heat, spice, sweetness), and pickled red cabbage coleslaw (for crunch, sharpness).[12]

World Parmo Championships

A light-hearted celebration of the parmo, the World Parmo Championships started with an inaugural competition in 2007 in Stockton.[13] The championships ran annually until 2016, after which there was a two-year gap. The 2019 edition saw 30 restaurants compete before the live "parmo-off" between the final four at the Middlesbrough Town Hall. The winner was the Borge Italian restaurant from Stockton-on-Tees, taking their fourth consecutive first place.[14]

Nutritional information

In 2007, North Yorkshire Trading Standards conducted a survey of 25 fast food dishes. A large parmo with chips and salad they tested contained about 2,600 calories and 150g of fat.[15]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "BBC – Tees Parmo! – Teesside Parmesan recipe". Retrieved 16 January 2018.
  2. ↑ "The 'parmo' goes national". The Guardian. 9 October 2009. Retrieved 26 October 2022.
  3. 1 2 "Teesside's fast food sensation". BBC. 1 November 2007. Retrieved 20 August 2014.
  4. ↑ "parmo noun". Oxford English Dictionary, Appeals. Oxford University Press. 12 June 2015. Retrieved 25 March 2023. Both the name and the preparation are somewhat reminiscent of the Italian-American dish chicken (or veal, etc.) parmesan or parmigiana (chicken parm for short), though this always involves tomato sauce rather than béchamel sauce and is made with a combination of mozzarella and parmesan cheeses (hence the name). The American dish is in turn a carnivorous reinvention of the classic Italian dish melanzane parmigiana, made with slices of aubergine.
  5. ↑ Starkey, Adam (6 April 2019). "Chinese wins Britain's Favourite Takeaway and the nation is divided once again". Metro. Retrieved 24 October 2019.
  6. ↑ "Parmos flying off store shelves". BBC News. 22 July 2009. Retrieved 20 August 2014.
  7. ↑ Hancox, Dan (9 October 2009). "The 'parmo' goes national". The Guardian. Retrieved 20 August 2014.
  8. ↑ Robson, Dave (16 September 2017). "'Keep it simple': How Jeff the Chef parmos gets from the factory to your plate". Teesside Gazette. Retrieved 25 March 2023.
  9. ↑ Robson, Dave (14 September 2017). "Should the Teesside parmo get 'protected status' like Jersey Royal potatoes or Cumberland sausage?". Teesside Gazette. Retrieved 25 March 2023.
  10. ↑ "Protected food and drink names: applications". Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, UK Government. 9 February 2023. Retrieved 25 March 2023.
  11. ↑ "Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 November 2012 on quality schemes for agricultural products and foodstuffs". European Union. 14 December 2012. Retrieved 25 March 2023.
  12. ↑ O'Shaughnessy, Anthony (1 June 2018). "The Teesside Chicken Parmo". Anthony Shock. Retrieved 25 March 2023.
  13. ↑ Lloyd, Chris (4 October 2017). "The great escalope – the history of the parmo, the national dish of Teesside". The Northern Echo. Retrieved 25 March 2023.
  14. ↑ "We can go for more: Restaurant wins fourth World Parmo Championship in a row". Express & Star. 29 October 2019. Retrieved 25 March 2023.
  15. ↑ Hudson, Jeff (June 2007). "A project to ascertain the energy, fat and salt levels, in a selection of takeaway ready meals obtained from outlets in North Yorkshire". North Yorkshire County Council Trading Standards Service. North Yorkshire County Council. Archived from the original on 21 September 2013.
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