Parmo

Parmo is a food dish, a variation of Veal Parmesan, apparently invented by Cypriot Restauranters during the early 1960s in the conurbation of Teesside in the North East of England. Originally, the veal was substituted by Pork fillet and then later in the 1980s with the emergence of Muslim operated takeaways Chicken fillet became an option. It is much-prized there, both as a restaurant meal and a take-out snack. No pizza shop outside of Teesside serves the Parmo and ironically no pizza shop in Teesside can survive without having the Parmo on the menu.

Whereas Chicken parmesan is a flattened slab of chicken, pan-fried while coated with breadcrumbs and then grilled with Parmesan cheese, Parmo involves deep-frying the chicken in an egg and breadcrumb batter, then smothering it in Bechamel sauce, before finally grilling with cheese.

Previous to c. 1993 the Parmo was only available as described above. Then, following an idea by a Teesside man (who asked for some pepperoni to be added to the topping before cooking), local takeaways added a variety of 'topped Parmos' to their menus. They are usually named after pizza toppings and vary from shop to shop:

Hotshot Parmo: Chicken or Pork, topped with cheese, pepperoni, peppers, garlic butter and chilli

Kiev Parmo: Chicken only, topped with cheese and garlic butter

Parmo Italiano: Chicken or Pork, topped with cheese, garlic butter and ham, with a further topping of mozzarella cheese

References

• Teesside recipe
• Chicken Parmesan