Here’s What to do With That Leftover Thanksgiving Turkey

Before your leftover turkey turns bad--here's a quick and easy recipe for my famous Big Bill Love's hot brown. The hot brown is strictly a Kentucky dish and is the fourth most famous food to come out of the Bluegrass State, right behind KFC, Moonlight barbecue and burgoo. Here's how to make it:

First, gather the ingredients:

You probably have all these at hand anyhow. There's turkey breast sliced as thin as possible, a couple slices of toast, some fried bacon, cheese sauce or sliced American cheese like Velveeta, and a tomato.

Arrange the toast on a plate creatively like this:

Then lay the sliced turkey with the bacon on top of it:

Then pour the cheese sauce over everything (or lay several slices of soft American cheese over the whole mess):

Then slice a tomato and top the cheese with it:

To make your hot brown both hot and brown, you can put it under the broiler for 30 seconds or so to melt the cheese. Be careful of the hot plate.

If you were enjoying a hot brown in Louisville at the Brown Derby hotel where it started, you would find the cheese sauce is made from Pecorino Romano cheese in a Mornay sauce, and there is a layer of thinly carved ham on top of the turkey. The Brown Derby would never have allowed Velveeta into their kitchen, but they are a four star hotel; and I run a zero star kitchen so my cheese sauce is made from Velveeta or Cheese Whiz.

The Brown Derby charges $25.00 for their version of the hot brown but I made this one for only about five bucks. So take that Brown Derby, and stick it in your Pecorino.