Aussie parma

"There are times when one should really step back and take a moment to reflect on all the things that one takes for granted. ... the simple truth that no matter which pub you wander into in this unpredictable country of ours, you’re pretty much guaranteed a cold beer and a chicken parmigiana if you ask nicely for them."

Sez K. James - Territory Taste

Whilst we were ordering our birthday party pizzas the other day I noticed that on their blackboards there were four 'parma specials'. I'm afraid I can't remember what they all were now, and their website's menu won't load. Suffice to say that this most Australian thing - it was mostly chicken - I do remember that - has even found its way into pizza places. It's one of those fascinating evolutionary tales, although perhaps not an uplifting one.

As the opening quote says, it's a fundamental pub food which can be found in every pub - there are even special parma and pot nights - nights on which you get a special deal on this combination - a pot being a pot of beer - a pot of beer being a large glass of beer. David and I are not quite sure how large, and frankly I can't be bothered to look it up. I'm talking about the food here.

The above picture is a pretty typical pub offering. What you have is a breaded and fried chicken schnitzel, topped with tomato sauce and grilled cheese, with a side salad and chips. There is considerable argument about whether the chips should be served on the side or underneath - ditto for the salad but as one commentator said - really it doesn't matter. There should definitely be chips though. Standard variations might include some bacon or ham on the top, even a fried egg has been suggested, or some beetroot somewhere, but there are also a vast number of variations as silly as avocado and curry.

Such is the enthusiasm for this dish that there is at least one website dedicated to it - Parma Daze which gives an award every year to the best parma in Victoria - well mostly Melbourne - elsewhere described as the capital of Parma - but also including country Victoria. In 2017 the winners were: The Wandi Pub in Wandiligong - actually the best new parma and also the overall best, and the Birmingham Hotel in Fitzroy which apparently has been reliably consistent. I can't find their 2018 winners list but those two seem to still be on the top of their ladder. Maybe even they have eaten too many parmas and are over it.

I have to say their winners look marginally better than the generic one at the top of the page - or do they? Looking at their map of places that are on their 'ladder' there is absolutely nothing out our way. Now is that because they are all terrible, or simply that these people are urban hipsters and just never make it out to the suburbs? I know the chicken Parma exists out here, they even have pubs out here, and I can't believe that all their chicken parmas are awful, so I suspect it's just that, as usual, we have been passed by, by the mainstream.

So how did the supreme position of the chicken parma on the pub menu happen?

I was going to give a brief summary of the 'ancient' origins of the dish but Sez K. James probably does a better job.

"Our story begins in the early 1400s in either Naples, Calabria, Sicily or the general Campanian countryside. I’d love to be more specific but temperatures tend to run a little high when trying to pinpoint the precise locale. Each region has what appears to be a fairly legitimate claim to the crown, usually due to a dialectical term that ‘parmigiana’ could likely be derived from, and much energy and emotion has been invested into defending these claims." Sez K. James - Territory Taste

What should be said, is that the term parmigiana does not mean it's from Parma, or indeed has anything to do with Parmigiana Reggiano, in spite of Jane Grigson saying,

"Parmesan is essential. No other cheese has its concentrated flavour. It's the soul of this dish."

My brief survey would imply to me that the basic original ingredients were eggplant and mozzarella - not Parmesan - and definitely not chicken. To this day you will not find a recipe for chicken parmigiana in an 'authentic' Italian cookbook. The tomatoes probably came later - well they weren't really used in Italy until the 18th century. I personally am betting on Naples but I guess it could also have been Sicily, although I would have expected something more sweet and sour from Sicily.

Wherever it came from, this is the original dish - Parmigiana di Melanzane

It's fried eggplants layered with tomatoes and cheese, topped with cheese and baked in the oven to deliver this unctuous kind of vegetable lasagne with the eggplant standing in for the pasta and without the meat sauce. A vegetable gratin I suppose. Apparently it is best eaten warm - standing it for a while sort of compacts it and makes it easier to eat. Now you will find recipes for this dish in all of the Italian cookbooks. And they don't seem to vary all that much - maybe there will be parmesan as well as mozzarella, maybe there will be fresh tomatoes instead of tomato sauce, maybe there will be just one layer, maybe some of the eggplants are simply blanched instead of fried to reduce the amount of oil - but really there's general consensus about layering eggplants, cheese and tomatoes and baking until brown and bubbly on top.

Then the Americans got hold of it. Or rather the Italian immigrants of the early 20th century. Eggplants were not as easy to come by in America but meat was. And for a group of people who had hitherto not been able to afford meat, this was heaven. In America it is served with spaghetti not chips, and it was also put into sandwiches of the Subway kind, but being America the portions became larger and larger.

In Australia the Italian immigrants of the 50s and 60s were also probably overwhelmed by the availability of meat. Here apparently it was initially lamb, then beef and veal, but as the price of these meats climbed and chicken breasts became available it became chicken parma. The chips must be from the anglo immigrants who insisted on having chips with everything. Mind you the eggplant parmigiana does survive too. You will find it on most Italian restaurant menus. But we are also guilty of doing horrible things to it.

I tried to find somewhat more gourmet versions - Taste has 48 recipes for parmigiana - of all kinds from eggplant to tofu - But I couldn't really find anything super tasty. I'll just give you one - from Stefano Manfredi for a rather classy looking pizza - Roman pizza with eggplant parmigiana. At least he's sticking to the eggplant.