After I arrived in Lexington, Kentucky yesterday, I was sitting in my hotel room doing a little online research to discover what exactly about Lexington I needed to experience during my 36 hour visit. Naturally I was also on the hunt for a bacon adventure.
That is when I first learned about the Kentucky Hot Brown.
Yeah, that’s right, a “Hot Brown.” I didn’t think it sounded terribly appetizing at first either.
So what exactly is a Hot Brown? It is a hot sandwich that originated in 1926 at the Brown Hotel just up the road in Louisville, Kentucky. The hotel wanted to create a signature sandwich, and the Hot Brown was the result of that effort. The Hot Brown is an open-faced sandwich that consists of turkey, bacon and Mornay sauce on a slice of bread that is broiled until the bread is crispy and the sauce begins to brown. These days there are many local variations on the Hot Brown throughout Kentucky, but they all revolve around these four basic ingredients.
Further research on Hot Brown sandwiches in Lexington led me to discover Ramsey’s Diner, supposedly the location of the best Hot Browns in town. So I headed to their downtown location for lunch.
I saddled up to the bar and ordered my Hot Brown. About 10 minutes later, the most insane plate of food I’ve seen in a long time was placed in front of me. As the waitress was carrying it over, the guys a couple seats down from me at the bar busted out with a “what is that?!?” Obviously they weren’t locals, which the waitress immediately acknowledged with a “you’ve never had a Kentucky Hot Brown?!?” I felt so ‘in the know.’
The Ramsey’s version of the Hot Brown consists of the following ingredients in order from bottom to top: white toast, sliced turkey, sliced ham, sliced tomatoes, Mornay sauce, cheddar cheese, and two crispy slices of bacon. This gooey madness fills up an entire dinner plate and it is far more than one person should consume in one sitting – I suggest sharing it with a friend (or two). I could only finish half of the Hot Brown myself. The key to maximizing your enjoyment of a Hot Brown is to get a little bit of each layer in every bite. The combination of flavors is comforting, pleasurable and naughty all at once.
By the way, I forgot to mention that I woke up this morning thinking about getting back into a regular exercise routine. Ironically, the Hot Brown served as the perfect motivation for this renewed commitment to fitness because after I paid my bill at Ramsey’s I walked out the door, got in my car, drove straight to Dick’s Sporting Goods, bought a new pair of tennis shoes, and then I went back to my hotel and hit the treadmill for an hour. And I’m still feeling a bit guilty about my Hot Brown experience. But boy was it worth it.