Parmo, or Teesside Parmesan, is a dish originating in

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is the largest ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county (lieutenancy area) in England, covering an area of . Around 40% of the county is covered by National parks of the United Kingdom, national parks, including most of ...

, and a popular item of take-away food in the Teesside area. It consists of a

breaded cutlet Breaded cutlet is a dish made from coating a cutlet of meat with breading or batter and either frying or baking it. Breaded cutlet is known as schnitzel in German-speaking countries, cotoletta alla milanese in Italy, escalope in France, ''fil ...

of chicken or pork topped with a white

béchamel sauce Bechamel sauce ( ) is a sauce traditionally made from a white roux (butter and flour in a 1:1 mixture by weight) and milk. Bechamel may also be referred to as besciamella (Italy), besamel (Greece), or white sauce (U.S.). French, Italian and Gree ...

and cheese, usually cheddar cheese. The name of the dish is a reference to the dish chicken parmigiana, which is made with

tomato sauce Tomato sauce (also known as ''salsa roja'' in Spanish or ''salsa di pomodoro'' in Italian) can refer to many different sauces made primarily from tomatoes, usually to be served as part of a dish, rather than as a condiment. Tomato sauces are c ...

and

mozzarella cheese Mozzarella (, ; nap, muzzarella ) is a southern Italian cheese traditionally made from Italian buffalo's milk by the pasta filata method. Fresh mozzarella is generally white but when seasoned it turns to a light yellow depending on the anim ...

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

History

Origins

Parmo is said to have been created by Nicos Harris, a

Greek American Greek Americans ( el, Ελληνοαμερικανοί ''Ellinoamerikanoí'' ''Ellinoamerikánoi'' ) are Americans of full or partial Greek ancestry. The lowest estimate is that 1.2 million Americans are of Greek descent while the highest e ...

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 The James Cook University Hospital is a tertiary referral hospital and regional major trauma centre in Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England located on the A172 (Marton Road). Having 1,046 beds, it caters for most specialities and forms par ...

, 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 2014, continuing the family tradition.

Supermarket sales

In 2009, supermarket chain

Asda Asda Stores Ltd. () (often styled as ASDA) is a British supermarket chain. It is headquartered in Leeds, England. The company was founded in 1949 when the Asquith family merged their retail business with the Associated Dairies company of Yorks ...

started selling parmo in their shops in Teesside. They claimed they were selling 6,000 chicken parmos a week, making them at the time the shop's fastest-selling line. Asda later expanded this line to branches outside Teesside.

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.

References

External links

Teesside recipeParmo: Teesside's fast food sensation
BBC Inside Out – North East, 11 June 2007

*{{cite news , url=https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/kbxdba/welcome-to-the-magical-mystical-world-of-parmo , title=Welcome to the Magical, Mystical World of Parmo , magazine=

Vice A vice is a practice, behaviour, or habit generally considered immoral, sinful, criminal, rude, taboo, depraved, degrading, deviant or perverted in the associated society. In more minor usage, vice can refer to a fault, a negative character t ...