Kentucky Hot Brown, Inspired by The Brown Hotel
Inspired by, not official: Louisville's open-faced roast turkey sandwich, smothered in Pecorino Romano Mornay sauce, broiled until bubbling and topped with crossed strips of bacon.
The Hot Brown was created in 1926 by chef Fred K. Schmidt at the Brown Hotel in Louisville, Kentucky, which had opened in 1923 (Wikipedia:). The hotel tells the story this way: its dinner dances drew more than 1,200 guests every evening, and the dancers, tired of the usual late-night ham and eggs, wanted something more glamorous, so Schmidt made an open-faced turkey sandwich with bacon under a Mornay sauce.
Roast turkey was a treat at the time, usually saved for the holidays, and the original was topped with pimento and bacon (Wikipedia). The hotel was closed from 1971 to 1985, so for those years it could not be ordered where it was born (Wikipedia), and today the hotel publishes its own recipe. This version is inspired by that recipe, not the official one.
🇺🇸 This one is American
Inspired by, not official: Louisville's open-faced roast turkey sandwich, smothered in Pecorino Romano Mornay sauce, broiled until bubbling and topped with crossed strips of bacon.
🇲🇽 The original
In Mexico, where the turkey was first domesticated, the classic is turkey pieces braised in mole poblano, a dark sauce of dried chiles, spices, nuts and a little chocolate. See the Mole Poblano with Turkey (Mole Poblano de Guajolote) recipe.
Why it works the kitchen science
A mornay that stays smooth
The roux is cooked only until it loses its raw taste, and the cheese goes in off the heat, so it melts into the sauce instead of turning grainy.
The broiler does the rest
Intense heat from above browns and blisters the sauce in minutes while the turkey underneath just warms through.
Step by step
- Step 1
Set an oven rack about 6 inches below the broiler and heat the broiler to high.
- Step 2
Melt the butter in a 2 quart saucepan over medium-low heat. Whisk in the flour and cook 2 minutes, stirring often, without letting it brown.
- Step 3
Whisk in the cream and milk and cook over medium heat 2 to 3 minutes, whisking, until the sauce just begins to simmer and thickens.
- Step 4
Take the pan off the heat and whisk in 1/2 cup Pecorino Romano until smooth. Season with nutmeg, salt and pepper.
- Step 5
For each sandwich, put 2 slices of toast in an oven-safe dish: cut one corner to corner into 2 triangles and leave the other whole. Pile 7 oz of turkey on the whole slice and set the triangles and 2 tomato halves beside it.
- Step 6
Pour half the sauce over each dish to cover the turkey completely, and sprinkle with the remaining Pecorino Romano.
- Step 7
Broil 3 to 5 minutes, until the sauce is bubbling and browned in spots. Lay 2 strips of bacon in an X on top, dust with paprika and parsley and serve at once, in the dish.
Kentucky Hot Brown, Inspired by The Brown Hotel
Serves 2 · 2 open-faced sandwiches · 30 min total
Mornay sauce
- 4 tbsp (2 oz) butter
- 1/2 cup minus 1 tbsp (2 oz) all-purpose flour
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1/2 cup grated Pecorino Romano, plus 1 tbsp for topping
- A pinch of ground nutmeg
- Salt and pepper
Sandwiches
- 4 slices Texas toast (or thick white bread), crusts trimmed, toasted
- 14 oz thick-sliced roast turkey breast
- 2 Roma tomatoes, halved lengthwise
- 4 slices bacon, cooked crisp
- Paprika and chopped parsley, to finish
Method
- Set an oven rack about 6 inches below the broiler and heat the broiler to high.
- Melt the butter in a 2 quart saucepan over medium-low heat. Whisk in the flour and cook 2 minutes, stirring often, without letting it brown.
- Whisk in the cream and milk and cook over medium heat 2 to 3 minutes, whisking, until the sauce just begins to simmer and thickens.
- Take the pan off the heat and whisk in 1/2 cup Pecorino Romano until smooth. Season with nutmeg, salt and pepper.
- For each sandwich, put 2 slices of toast in an oven-safe dish: cut one corner to corner into 2 triangles and leave the other whole. Pile 7 oz of turkey on the whole slice and set the triangles and 2 tomato halves beside it.
- Pour half the sauce over each dish to cover the turkey completely, and sprinkle with the remaining Pecorino Romano.
- Broil 3 to 5 minutes, until the sauce is bubbling and browned in spots. Lay 2 strips of bacon in an X on top, dust with paprika and parsley and serve at once, in the dish.
Adapted from The Brown Hotel's published Hot Brown recipe (inspired by, not official). The hotel's amounts make 2 sandwiches and we keep them; the oven-safe dish, the broiler rack position and the broiling time are ours. History from Wikipedia. No hotel name, logo or building should appear in any image. The Brown Hotel. Ingredient list follows the source; the method is in our own words.
All sources (2)
Tips
- Use real roast turkey breast, such as our Roast Turkey Breast with Lemon and Thyme recipe or leftovers from our Classic Roast Thanksgiving Turkey recipe, sliced thick; deli turkey turns watery under the sauce.
- Leftover turkey should be no more than 3 to 4 days old; the broil brings it back to temperature.
- This is a knife-and-fork dish, and a rich one. Half a Hot Brown is a meal for many people.
The rules people argue about
What the sources agree on, what they don't, and what is just a good story.
- The Hot Brown was created in 1926 by Fred Schmidt. Documented: Wikipedia gives 1926; the hotel's own page says the 1920s.
- A real Hot Brown has tomato on it. Disputed: Wikipedia says the original was finished with pimento and bacon; the hotel's current recipe uses Roma tomatoes. A Brown Hotel chef has been quoted saying tomatoes replaced the pimentos about a decade later (we could not read the interview itself).
- A Hot Brown is covered in cheddar cheese sauce. Folklore: the hotel's sauce is a Mornay made with Pecorino Romano, and Wikipedia notes that imitations sometimes use commercial cheese sauce.
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