Hot Stuff!

It’s a Kentucky tradition — covered in cream sauce. The hot Brown, almost 1,000 calories of piping hot history. Created on a whim by a chef at Louisville's famed Brown Hotel during the Roaring ’20s, the turkey sandwich with the sinfully good topping has become a tasty part of Kentucky culture.

In its purest form, the hot Brown is toasted white bread, topped with slices of fresh roasted turkey breast, covered with a cream sauce (bechamel) and garnished with pimento (or tomato) and bacon.
But if you’ve ordered one at a restaurant recently, there’s a good chance you’ve encountered a creative cheese sauce. Or you might have crunched an asparagus stalk or bitten into a shrimp.

Such is the evolution of the hot Brown.
The popularity of the sandwich has caused chefs throughout the state to tamper with tradition and come up with an array of dishes — all called hot Brown. There’s a seafood hot Brown, an Italian hot Brown, even a veggie hot Brown.

But here’s how it began.
In the 1920s, according to legend, the grand dining room in the Brown Hotel drew more than 1,200 guests each evening for its dinner dance. The band would play into the wee hours, and hungry guests would retire to the restaurant for a midnight snack. The story goes that the cooks grew tired of preparing ham and eggs, so chef Fred Schmidt came up with an idea for an open-faced turkey sandwich with Mornay sauce. At the time, turkey was prepared almost exclusively at Thanksgiving and Christmas, so this was a treat. The sandwich was broiled, with two strips of bacon and some pimento added for color.

The guests couldn’t get enough of a good thing, so the sandwich carried over to the hotel’s lunchtime menu and soon became a midday favorite.

The Brown Hotel, now The Camberley Brown, still serves the hot Brown the same way it was created, except it adds a slice of tomato instead of pimiento and a touch of mace and dry mustard to the sauce.

The original hot Brown

4 ounces butter
About 6 tablespoons flour (to make a roux)
3 to 31⁄2 cups milk
6 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
1 egg, beaten
1 ounce whipped cream, optional
Salt and pepper to taste
Slices of roast turkey
8 to 12 slices toast, may be trimmed
Extra parmesan for topping
8 to 12 strips fried bacon
Melt butter and add enough flour to make a reasonably thick roux (enough to absorb all the butter). Add milk and Parmesan cheese. Add egg to thicken sauce, but do not allow to boil. Remove from heat. Fold in whipped cream. Add salt and pepper to taste.
For each hot Brown, place two slices of toast on a metal (or flameproof) dish. Cover the toast with a liberal amount of turkey. Pour a generous amount of sauce over the turkey and toast. Sprinkle with additional Parmesan cheese. Place entire dish under a broiler until the sauce is speckled brown and bubbly. Remove from broiler, cross two pieces of bacon on top, and serve immediately.

Here's a recipe from Kentucky Hospitality: A 200-Year Tradition, published by the Kentucky Federation of Women’s Clubs.

Hot Brown

8 slices trimmed toast
1 pound turkey, thinly sliced
4 slices tomato
8 strips bacon, partially cooked
4 ounces grated Parmesan cheese
Sauce:
2 tablespoons butter
1⁄4 cup flour
2 cups milk
1⁄4 teaspoon salt
1⁄2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1⁄4 cup sharp Cheddar cheese, grated
1⁄4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Cut toast into triangles and place in individual baking dishes. Arrange turkey slices on the toast and cover with hot cheese sauce. Top with tomato slices and bacon strips. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Bake at 425 degrees until bubbly. Makes 4 servings.
To make cheese sauce: Melt butter in saucepan; add flour and stir well. Add milk, salt, Worcestershire sauce, Cheddar cheese and Parmesan cheese. Cook, stirring constantly, until thick.