What is Parmigiana?

Parmigiana is a term used to describe food that is cooked and served with grated parmesan. Traditionally, it was an Italian meal consisting of layers of parmesan to fried slices of eggplant. However, food today has many variations and is popular outside its country of origin.

Although it is undisputed that Parmigiana has its origin in Italy, exactly where and how its name is questionable. It is recognized as southern Italian food, with the Kampania region and the island of Sicily, where it claims ownership of its origin. The name of the bowl suggests that it comes from a parma that is actually in northern Italy. However, the kitchen is missing in Parma, which leads to some people to the theoretic that this term comes from the Sicilian word parmiciana . In addition, there is a strong possibility that the food has been named for hard granular cheese that would be its main ingredient, Parmigiano-Reggiano or Parmesan.

Regardless of the th -Italian region of origin or the means by which it acquired its name was Parmigiana originally knownLike Melanzane Alla Parmigiana or Aubergin Parmigiana. Melanzane and Aubergin are terms that refer to eggplant. The eggplant, originally from India, did not reach Europe until the 16th century, suggesting that Parmigiana could be developed shortly after this period. The eggplant is prepared by a shallow fried eggplant in an oil pan, covering with cheese and tomato sauce and baking.

Parmigiana began to spread to other parts of the world, especially to the United States, with the rise of the number of Italian immigrants between the end of the 19th century and the early 20th century. Around this time, previously strictly vegetarian food began to develop meat -based variants. An example is chicken parmigiana, which includes chicken breasts soaked in akax mixture of eggs, covered with crumbs of bread, fried and laminated with marinar sauce. Another popular option is the veal parmigiana.

By the end of the 20th century, the term parmigiana expandedOther applications that did not have little in common with the original recipe. In the US, for example, they sell Deli shops or veal variants such as underwater sandwiches and placed the prepared meat in the center of sliced ​​Italian roles. In addition, parmesan is no longer the only cheese used and other types such as mozzarella were instead of parmesan or used.