DSS - Thanksgiving - Day 5

Leftovers. No Thanksgiving holiday is complete until you start trying to figure out what to do with all that turkey you roasted. The choices of leftover turkey dishes are endless. Turkey tetrazzini, turkey pot pie, hot turkey sandwiches, turkey a la king and turkey with rice. For my first leftover dish I decided to try making a Hot Brown.
The history of the Hot Brown is found in the past of the Brown Hotel in Louisville Kentucky. Like all great food legends, this one was born from an effort to please the desires of it's customers. Back in the '20's the Brown would sponsor a dinner dance. Those of you well versed in night life activities know that after a hard night of dancing and imbibing, sustenance is needed to recharge or recover from said activities. Apparently the Brown's patrons grew tired of the ham and eggs the kitchen offered up so Chef Fred Schmidt came up with a hot open faced turkey sandwich they called the Hot Brown. (You can find the history and recipe here) It was a huge hit and another legendary American food dish was born. To build your own Hot Brown you start with a couple of slices of Texas Toast with the crusts cut off. You're going to need that thickness from Texas Toast because it's got to hold up to your sauce. Add a layer of turkey on top of your toast, slice a couple of tomatoes and set them off to the side of your bread. Next you need to make your Mornay sauce. A Mornay is simply a Béchamel sauce to which you add grated cheese. When I went to check out the Google Images for a Hot Brown, it looks like more often than not, cheddar or American cheese is used but I'm following the hotel's recipe which calls for Pecorino Romano cheese. I did deviate from the recipe by using half heavy cream and half whole milk for the sauce. One quart of heavy cream is a whole lot of fat for one serving of sandwich. Once your sauce is bubbly and hot and all your cheese has melted into the sauce, you liberally smother your toast and turkey. Add one last sprinkling of cheese on top of your sandwich and pop it under the broiler. Once it's warm and your cheese has melted, take it out, sprinkle the top with paprika and parsley and add your crossed slices of bacon and serve while still bubbling.

I won't kid you, this is a heart attack on a plate. I only used half the amount of sauce and that was still plenty. Still it tastes fantastic and the flavors are so divergent from your just finished Thanksgiving Day meals that you won't feel like you're eating leftover turkey yet again. However those of you on Lipitor or Crestor, perhaps you should give this sandwich a pass. It's that decadent.

KARMIC KITCHEN 2009 THANKS - BACONIZATION