GIANT HOT BROWN
Makes: 8 servings

When you have a crowd hungry for a Kentucky Hot Brown, here’s what you do instead of composing individual plates. Serve this at your next dinner party or family gathering for a real
taste of the Bluegrass State.

8 slices white bread, toasted
2 pounds roasted turkey breast, cut into ½-inch-thick slices
4 cups Mornay Sauce (recipe follows)
12 strips bacon, cooked but not crisp
4 whole tomatoes, cut into wedges

Preheat the oven to 375°F.

Cut the toasted bread in half diagonally and place half of the toast points in the bottom of a 9 × 13-inch baking dish. Arrange the turkey breast on top of the bread and cover it with the Mornay sauce. 

Arrange the bacon on top of the sauce in a crisscross pattern. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, until the top starts to brown and the sides are bubbling. Remove from the oven and place the tomato wedges on top. Return to the oven for 5 minutes, until the tomatoes are slightly cooked. 

Remove from the oven and place the remaining toast points around the edges of the dish for garnish. Let cool slightly before serving.

MORNAY SAUCE
Makes: 4 Cups

1 stick unsalted butter
8 tablespoons all-purpose flour
4 cups whole milk
5 ounces coarsely grated Gruyère (1¼ cups)
½ teaspoon kosher salt
⅛ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
⅛ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

Melt the butter in a 2-quart heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium-low heat. Add the flour and cook, whisking constantly, for 3 minutes. While whisking, add the milk in a slow stream and bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and gently simmer, whisking occasionally, for 10 minutes as the sauce thickens.

Remove from the heat and add the Gruyère, whisking until melted. Whisk in the salt, pepper, and nutmeg until all the ingredients are fully incorporated. Serve immediately.

HOW THE BROWN BECAME THE HOT BROWN
The Brown Hotel in downtown Louisville is listed as a National Historic Landmark and has welcomed thousands of guests and travelers since it opened in 1923. The beautiful Georgian Revival hotel is legendary for its hospitality, bourbon flights, and Hot Brown—a dish created in the 1920s by then-chef Fred Schmidt. 

During the Roaring Twenties, the hotel drew over 1,200 guests each evening for its dinner dance. In the wee hours of the morning, when the guests were hungry and weary of dancing, they headed for the hotel’s restaurant. Chef Schmidt correctly intuited that this nightly crowd would like something a bit more glamorous than ham and eggs at 2 a.m.

His answer was an open-faced turkey sandwich with bacon, tomato, and a delicate Mornay sauce; the Hot Brown was born. The dish became synonymous with the hotel, Louisville, bourbon, the Kentucky Derby, and general merriment. It is still served in the hotel’s restaurants and bar.

Reprinted with permission from The Bourbon Country Cookbook by David Danielson and
Tim Laird, Agate Surrey, 2018.