Kentucky’s Date of Statehood – June 1st, 1792
When you think about Kentucky culinary traditions, I bet your first thought is to fancy hats and mint juleps. But really, your mind should turn the Brown Hotel in Louisville. The Kentucky Hot Brown was one of two signature sandwiches created by chefs at the Brown Hotel shortly after its founding in 1923. It was created to serve as an alternative to ham and egg late-night suppers for the hungry dance patrons. So, an iconic and sumptuously rich dish was created to keep flappers fueled up for all the dancing and partying during the roaring twenties. Pair that with a fresh, local salad dressed with some famous Kentucky bourbon (in the form of a vinaigrette of course) and you’ve got a meal fit for a Triple Crown.
Tips and Tricks
- If you don’t have individual oven safe dishes, you can make them with aluminum foil. This is true any time you have a dish that is too large for what you want to make.
- If you don’t want to go through the trouble of roasting your own turkey breast, then you can use thick sliced deli style turkey. I used Kentucky Legend Sliced Deli Turkey and it was delicious!
- Often a recipe will be call for a neutral oil. Examples of neutral oil are: vegetable oil, canola oil, grapeseed oil, and sunflower oil.
- I always choose freshly grated nutmeg over the already ground kind you buy in the store. Buying whole nutmeg and only grating as much as you need at a time is the best way to get the most flavor.
Kentucky Hot Brown
Serves 2
- 4 Tbs Butter
- 1/3 Cup All-Purpose Flour
- 1 Cup Heavy Cream
- 1 Cup Whole Milk
- 1/2 Cup Pecorino-Romano Cheese, please extra for garnish
- 1/8 tsp Freshly Grated Nutmeg
- Salt and Pepper, to taste
- 1 lb. Sliced Roasted Turkey Breast
- 4 Slices of Texas Toast
- 4 Slices of Bacon, cooked until crisp
- 2 Roman tomatoes, sliced
- Dash of Paprika, for garnish
- Freshly Chopped Parsley, for garnish
Step 1: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Step 2: Place a medium sauce pan on the stove over medium-low heat. Once the pan is hot, add the butter and allow it to melt. When the butter has completely melted, slowly whisk in the flour until a thick paste (roux) is formed. Cook the roux for 2 minutes, stirring constantly.
Step 3: Whisk in the heavy cream and whole milk to the roux and increase the heat to medium. Cook for 2-3 minutes, stirring constantly, until the liquid starts to simmer.
Step 4: Remove the pan from the heat and slowly whisk in the Pecorino-Romano cheese until it is smooth. Add in the salt, pepper, and nutmeg and stir to thoroughly combine. Set the Mornay sauce aside.
Step 5: Place 1 piece of Texas Toast in each oven-safe dish (or aluminum foil dishes set on a large baking sheet.) Then, take the other two pieces of Texas toast and cut each one from corner to corner. Place two triangles around each whole piece of toast, so each serving of Hot Brown looks like an oval with two pointed ends.
Step 6: Start with 1 of the dishes with the Texas toast. Take half of the turkey and layer it on top of the toast slices. Then, take the slices of 1 of the Roma tomatoes and lay that over the turkey. Pour half of the Mornay sauce over everything in that dish and sprinkle with some extra cheese. Repeat this process with the other oven-safe dish until 2 Hot Browns have been made.
Step 7: Place the Hot Browns in the oven and bake for 25-30 minutes, or until the cheese starts to brown and bubble.
Step 8: Remove the dishes from the oven and place two strips of crispy bacon on top of each Hot Brown, in an X. Sprinkle each with paprika and fresh parsley.
Step 9: Serve hot.
Peach and Gorgonzola Green Salad with Bourbon Vinaigrette
Serves 4
Salad
- 1/2 Cup Pecan Halves
- 3 Bacon Slices, cooked crispy and crumbled
- 1 Package Mixed Greens
- 2 Large Peaches, pitted and sliced
- 1 Small Red Onion, peeled, halved, and thinly sliced
- 1/4 Cup Gorgonzola Cheese, crumbled
Dressing
- 3 Tbs Apple Cider Vinegar
- 2 Tbs Light Brown Sugar
- 1 1/2 Tbs Kentucky Bourbon
- 1 tsp Dijon Mustard
- 1/4 tsp Salt
- 1/4 tsp Freshly Ground Black Pepper
- 1/3 Cup Canola Oil
Step 1: In a small bowl, whisk together the dressing ingredients until well combined.
Step 2: Divide the mixed greens into individual salad bowls and to each serving equally with peaches, Gorgonzola, red onions, bacon and pecans.
Step 3: Serve cold with the dressing on the side.
Fun Facts about Kentucky: 1. Mammoth Cave is the world’s longest cave and was first promoted in 1816, making it the second oldest tourist attraction in the United States. Niagara Falls, New York is first. 2. Kentucky is the state where both Abraham Lincoln, President of the Union, and Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederacy, were born. They were born less than one hundred miles and one year apart. 3. The song “Happy Birthday to You” was the creation of two Louisville sisters in 1893. 4. Teacher Mary S. Wilson held the first observance of Mother’s Day in Henderson in 1887. It was made a national holiday in 1916. 5. The public saw an electric light for the first time in Louisville. Thomas Edison introduced his incandescent light bulb to crowds at the Southern Exposition in 1883. 6. You can find the World Peace Bell in downtown Newport across from the county courthouse. Weighing in at a total of 66,000 pounds, the bell has been recognized as the world’s largest free-swinging bell.
Edible U.S. 