"Parma cuisine around the world"

It might have been the result of the events in 1848 that sent revolutionary tremors throughout Italy, Vienna, Berlin and Paris, or perhaps just word of mouth from cook to cook and household to household, but the fact remains that a number of recipes from Parma emigrated abroad where they were accepted enthusiastically on the menus and in the cookbooks of famous chefs.

In an old French cookbook published in Paris in 1843, entitled La cuisine à la campagne et à la ville, there are a number of interesting recipes in the chapter dedicated to Italian cuisine.

One of these seems to be an old, authentic recipe from Parma and it is called, in fact, "Chicken alla parmigiana": "Prepare and flatten a young chicken. Brown it in a casserole using good butter and white wine and the same amount of stock. Add a handful of herbs, salt and pepper and simmer on low heat without letting it boil. Remove the chicken from the casserole, reduce the sauce with some worked butter. Take the serving platter, pour on a bit of the sauce and add a heaping spoonful of grated parmesan cheese. Add the chicken cut into pieces, cover with more grated parmesan and brown in the oven until golden."

From G. Gonizzi, Le memorie del Ciambellano. Storie di cucina nel Ducato. II, in Parma Capitale Alimentare, 44, 2000, pp 21-45.

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