Arguably Louisville, Kentucky’s most iconic dish had very unusual beginnings.
The dish was created by a chef who got tired of serving the same meal every night to hungry, post-dancing guests, a hotel employee familiar with the matter told Fox News Digital.
In 1926, Louisville’s Brown Hotel hosted nightly dinner dances, drawing crowds of more than 1,200 each night, according to the hotel’s website.
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By the end of the night, guests had worked up an appetite and headed down to the hotel’s restaurant for a light meal, according to the website.
Chef Fred Schmidt quickly grew frustrated with serving the then-popular ham and eggs dish, so he decided to improvise with ingredients he had on hand, Mark Salmon, the Brown’s director of human resources, told Fox News Digital in a phone interview.
The Hot Brown was invented in 1926 after a chef became frustrated with cooking the same dish every night and decided to change things up. (Chris Witzke)
Schmidt cut off the crusts from a thick loaf of bread and placed them in a ceramic frying pan.
He sliced the turkey and placed it on the bread, sliced a tomato in half, poured some Mornay sauce on top, and placed it under the grill.
When it came out he added more cheese.
Hot Brown was born.
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Nearly 100 years later, the Hot Brown is still served at the Brown Hotel and is pretty much the same as the original recipe, except it’s topped with two strips of bacon arranged in an X shape.
Nearly a century later, it remains a staple dish in Louisville and Kentucky.
“Legend has it that a store clerk walked past them and said, ‘They’re all the same color,'” Salmon says.
“And Schmidt said, ‘Okay,’ and he put two strips of bacon on it.”
Salmon said the hot brown was an instant hit and remains a staple in Louisville and Kentucky nearly a century later.
Since then, the Hot Brown Sandwich has become an iconic food in Louisville and throughout Kentucky. (Phil Vettel/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
“Whenever I hire a chef, I tell them, ‘You can do whatever you want, but don’t mess with the hot browns,'” Salmon says. “It has to be the original recipe.”
At the Brown Hotel, each Hot Brown sandwich comes with “seven ounces of hand-carved turkey breast,” Salmon told Fox News Digital.
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“our [sandwich] “The big difference between us and the copycats is that we roast and hand-carve our turkey breasts fresh right here in our kitchen,” he said.
Salmon said only one or two people are allowed to make the Mornay sauce at the hotel to ensure the sauce’s quality remains consistent throughout the day.
“We serve breakfast, lunch and dinner. [at] “Banquet, late at night,” he said.
Legend has it that the distinctive “X” on the bacon strip was a later addition to the sandwich. (Chris Witzke)
Mornay sauce is made by adding shredded cheese to a béchamel sauce, Salmon said.
For the hot brown, the chef adds Pecorino Romano and nutmeg.
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Nutmeg is “an interesting little secret to the sauce,” he said.
Salmon said he believes Hot Brown’s continued popularity is because it “stays true to the traditions of the town.”
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He also told Fox News Digital, “When you live and work in a town that produces a great spirit like bourbon, craftsmanship is really important here, and I think the fact that it’s something so unique and so ‘us’ is what’s kept our town going.”
A beautiful view of Louisville, Kentucky. “When you live and work in a town that produces a great spirit like bourbon, craftsmanship is really important here, and I think the fact that it’s something that’s very ‘us’ is what keeps it going,” Mark Salmon, human resources director at The Brown Hotel in Louisville, said of Hot Brown’s cuisine. (Louisville Tourism)
Still, like any unique food, Hot Brown has its detractors.
John Wise, an Ohio native who has lived and worked in Louisville for several years, recently said on social media that he’s “not a fan of Hot Brown.”
“It’s a fork and knife operation.”
“All the ingredients are good, so why open faced? For some reason soggy bread tastes good,” he wrote.
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Although a hot brown is technically a sandwich (albeit an open-faced one), it shouldn’t be eaten with your hands, Salmon said.
“This is a fork-and-knife operation,” he said.
