The Hot Brown

I know this photo is horrible, but I like it anyway. Love the individual ceramic “skillet”. This looks to be about as far as you can get on the continuum from a sandwich and still call it a sandwich.

Never heard of a Hot Brown until I was enlightened by the PBS documentary, Sandwiches You Will Like. How did I get to be this old without hearing of or EATING a Hot Brown? A Louisville specialty, the Hot Brown is fitting for a Kentucky Derby party, as chronicled in Washington Post Food today. My preference would be to eat one in Kentucky, made by someone else’s hands. In lieu of that, find a recipe here for this gooey broiled wonder described by Bonny Wolf in the Post as “Louisville’s famous hot open-faced sandwiches of turkey, tomatoes, bacon and peppery Mornay sauce.”

I’d like to know who coined the term “open-faced” and when.