The Hot Brown Began as a Late-Night Supper
A Louisville hotel kitchen gave its dance guests turkey on toast, cheese sauce, and bacon. The dish spread well beyond the ballroom.
A Hot Brown arrives in a dish, with toast under turkey and cheese sauce browned on top. Bacon finishes it. Despite being called a sandwich, it is a knife-and-fork meal, developed for guests who wanted something to eat after an evening of dancing.
Fred Schmidt’s Hotel Supper
Louisville’s Brown Hotel opened in 1923 at Fourth and Broadway. Its dinner dances brought large crowds into the building during the 1920s. The hotel traces the Hot Brown to chef Fred Schmidt, who created it in 1926 for late-night diners.
The kitchen assembled turkey and toast under Mornay sauce, then browned the dish beneath a broiler and finished it with bacon. The sauce and open-faced arrangement made it substantial enough for a late supper.
The hotel’s account describes the dish as an alternative to the ham and eggs guests might otherwise have ordered. It became a regular part of the menu and took the hotel’s name with it as other cooks adopted it.
Beyond the Brown Hotel
Other Kentucky restaurants developed versions of their own. Kurtz Restaurant in Bardstown served the Hot Brown shown in the photograph, about forty miles from the Louisville hotel where it began.
Recipes vary in their bread, cheese, and finishing details. The recognizable arrangement remains turkey and toast under a hot sauce, with bacon on top. The Brown Hotel publishes its own recipe, including tomato alongside the turkey and toast.
The original hotel still stands at Fourth and Broadway. Its restaurants continue serving the dish that took the hotel’s name onto menus elsewhere in Kentucky.
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Sources & photograph
Adapted from the Hidden Here story catalog. Explore the historical records behind this story.
