What is a Kentucky Hot Brown?

A Kentucky Hot Brown is an open-faced, meat-based sandwich that was first created at the Brown Hotel in Louisville, Kentucky in the 1920s. The traditional Hot Brown is served warm and includes ingredients such as turkey, pork bacon and Mornay sauce.

Some restaurants make minor variations to this ingredient list, such as using ham in addition to or instead of turkey, or stirring cheddar or American cheese into the mornay sauce, making it orange instead of white. After the ingredients are assembled, the whole open-face sandwich is usually broiled or otherwise heated until the plain mornay or cheese sauce begins to brown.