Brown Hotel
Invented as a midnight snack for revelers at the Brown Hotel, no visit to Louisville is complete without eating a Hot Brown, an open-faced sandwich of sliced turkey, covered in Mornay sauce, accompanied with tomato slices, sprinkled with Parmesan and baked or broiled on Texas toast until the bread is crisp and the sauce begins to brown and bubble. The sandwich is then topped with paprika, parsley and bacon strips. Sometimes known as a Kentucky Hot Brown, the sandwich was created at the Brown Hotel by Fred K. Schmidt in 1926 as an alternative to ham and egg late-night suppers. A variation of traditional Welsh rarebit, it was one of two signature sandwiches created by chefs at the hotel shortly after it opened in 1923. When Schmidt created the Hot Brown, sliced roast turkey was a rarity, as turkey was usually reserved for holiday feasts. After its debut, it quickly became the choice of 95 percent of customers to the hotel's restaurant. The Hot Brown has been featured in episodes of “Throwdown! With Bobby Flay,” “Chopped,” “Southern Fried Road Trip,” “Taste of America with Mark DeCarlo” and a Louisville-themed episode of “Man v. Food Nation” and more.
