Kentucky Hot Brown Sandwich
Toasted sourdough bread, sliced roasted turkey, tomato, cheesy mornay sauce, and a couple slices of crispy bacon? Sign me up. This sandwich can be eaten any time of day. It would make for a hearty and delectable breakfast, especially on a weekend morning when you have a little bit of extra time and really want to treat yourself. The recipe below is designed to create 4 open-faced sandwiches.
Ingredients
For the Cheesy Mornay Sauce:
- 4 Tbsp butter
- 5 Tbsp all-purpose flour
- 16oz whole milk, room temperature
- ½ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp cayenne pepper
- ¼ tsp ground nutmeg
- 1.5 cups shredded yellow cheddar cheese
- 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
For the Remaining Ingredients:
- 4 slices of sourdough bread, lightly toasted
- 2 Tbsp mayonnaise
- 8 slices of cooked turkey breast
- 3 Roma tomatoes, cut into ¼” slices, then dried on paper towels
- 8 slices smoky thick-cut bacon, cooked to barely crispy and reserved on paper towels
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 450F.
- To make the cheesy mornay sauce, start with creating the roux.
- For the roux, melt 4 Tbsp butter and add the flour and stir on medium heat with a rubber spatula. Continue stirring so your roux doesn’t burn or turn dark.
- Take roux off the heat after about ten minutes, or when the flour is cooked and the roux is a pale golden color.
- Slowly whisk in the room temperature whole milk into the hot roux, cooking over low heat.
- Make sure to add a small amount of milk at a time, combining thoroughly to avoid any lumps.
- When you have added all the milk and achieved the desired thick consistency, taste the bechamel and adjust seasoning with salt.
- Add the cayenne pepper and ground nutmeg and stir to combine.
- Whisk in the cheddar cheese until it is fully melted and the sauce is smooth.
- Taste and adjust for seasoning. Add freshly-ground black pepper if desired.
- You want the cheesy mornay mixture to be very thick at this stage, as it is going to be poured over your open-faced hot brown sandwich and broiled in the oven.
- Turn off heat and reserve sauce for later.
- Lightly toast your sourdough bread before you assemble the sandwiches.
- Prepare a baking sheet tray with parchment paper.
- Add the slices of sourdough bread.
- Lightly add a layer of mayo to the top of each piece of bread.
- Add the sliced cooked turkey breast to each sandwich.
- Add the sliced tomatoes on top of the turkey.
- Cover the tomatoes and turkey with a heavy dose of the cheesy mornay sauce.
- Add the barely-crispy bacon slices to each sandwich.
- Bake in the oven at 450F for 4 minutes, or until the cheese sauce is bubbling and the sandwiches are hot.
Notes
This sandwich does not store well, and should be eaten right when it comes out of the oven.
I have made a version of this sandwich with a thin layer of cranberry sauce on top of the bread, under the roasted turkey breast and mornay…really came out tasting incredible, where the balance of the sweet cranberry sauce contrasted wonderfully with the rich flavors of everything else. But it is unfortunately not included in this more classic Kentucky Hot Brown recipe. If that cranberry sauce idea sounds decent to you, try it out!
I have made a version of this sandwich with a thin layer of cranberry sauce on top of the bread, under the roasted turkey breast and mornay…really came out tasting incredible, where the balance of the sweet cranberry sauce contrasted wonderfully with the rich flavors of everything else. But it is unfortunately not included in this more classic Kentucky Hot Brown recipe. If that cranberry sauce idea sounds decent to you, try it out!