Hot brown

[orgonebox]

You can easily make your own hot brown with any topping. Most folks in rural Kentucky make hot browns with thanksgiving leftovers and a thick cheese sauce (aka mornay). For more fun, make a Welsh rarebit with some guinness and sharp cheddar. The more you tweak the dish to your own tastes, the better it is. Otherwise you're continuing the fetish of yet another southern culinary abomination, right up there with the mint julep and henry baines sauce - all served at your local monochrome country club.

[EVAunit1981]

Um, what are you guys talking about? What's in a hot brown?

[PONYPULR]

A hot brown traditionally consists of, and correct me if I'm wrong all ye hot brown aficionados, slices of ham and turkey on bread covered with mornay sauce(or other cheese sauce) and tomatoes, then broiled quickly to brown the cheese a bit.

I had my second one at Jerry's over the hoildays, and, although it was very different from the first one, it too was excellent!! I'm hooked!

[CraigCreek]

I'm pretty much in agreement with the above description, with the addendum that two strips of fried bacon are criss-crossed atop the whole concoction, which is often served on an oval plate. The traditional base of a Hot Brown is two pieces of toast, one whole slice placed squarely in the center and the other cut corner to corner and placed with the longer side next to the outer edges of the middle piece. Mornay sauce covers everything but the bacon strips and sometimes the tomato slices), not just the toast/bread. I seem to recall that the sliced/grilled tomatoes were not in the original Hot Brown, but they're commonly found these days and add a nice touch (and taste).

Cold January is a great month to enjoy Hot Browns!

[PONYPULR]

I'm sorry! I did forget the bacon!! A crucial element in the recipe!!