| Parmo | |
| Alternate Name: | Teesside Parmesan |
| Country: | England |
| Region: | Teesside |
| Creator: | Nicos Harris |
| Main Ingredient: | Chicken or pork cutlet, béchamel sauce, cheese |
Parmo, or Teesside Parmesan,[1] is a dish originating in Middlesbrough, 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, which is itself a derivation of the Italian melanzane alla parmigiana.[3]
In an April 2019 survey, parmo ranked 20th in Britain's Top 20 Favourite Takeaways.[4]
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.[5]
In 2007-2008, 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]
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]
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]
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]
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]