Complementing last week’s appetizer of Benedictine, Derby revelers will no doubt want something a bit more substantial.  After all — drinking, socializing and horse racing can run a body down!  Meet the Kentucky Hot Brown:  chunky roast turkey slices, layered over slices of white bread, cloaked in a cheesy Mornay sauce, then topped with sliced tomatoes and cooked bacon.  The entire piece is then broiled for a few minutes to give everything a bubbly, suntanned look.  Sound tempting?  Then read on …

As the story goes, the Kentucky Hot Brown was an invention of The Brown Hotel of Louisville during the Roaring Twenties.  The chef there, Fred Schmidt, needed something to please the hotel’s dancing party crowd and guests that would want to nosh something late at night; nothing as heavy as a dinner, but different from breakfast.  The sandwich was a hit, and soon became a draw unto itself.  My personal guess is that the revelers were toasted and needed tasty grub to combat the pending hangover – similar to any college student these days headed out to Waffle House at 2am after a frat party.  At any rate, the specialty open faced sandwich had staying power, living long after The Brown Hotel closed down for a period in the early 1970’s.  And somewhere along the way, it became a culinary symbol of the Derby.  Of course, the recipe has mutated and changed over the decades with exponential variations.  Many Kentucky housewives and beyond have made their own version, culled from different Junior League and community cookbooks.

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