Kentucky Hot Brown Soup

On a school trip, I had a Hot Brown at the Galt House Hotel restaurant (if you ever come to Louisville, you may hear about the famous "Galt House"). I found this soup version on another recipe site and tried it. It was extremely similar to what I had then. The sandwich and the soup are deeelish!

• Ready In: 40 mins
• Yields: 5 cups

Ingredients

• 1⁄4 cup butter or 1⁄4 cup margarine
• 1⁄4 cup  minced onion
• 1⁄4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1⁄2 teaspoon  garlic salt
• 1⁄4 teaspoon  hot sauce
• 4  cups milk
• 1  cup  shredded sharp cheddar cheese
• 1⁄2 cup  chopped cooked ham
• 1⁄2 cup  chopped  cooked turkey

• Toppings

•  crumbled bacon
•  chopped tomato
•  chopped fresh parsley

Directions

1. Melt butter in a Dutch oven over medium heat. Add onion; sauté until tender.
2. Add flour, garlic salt, and hot sauce; cook, stirring constantly, for 1 minute.
3. Gradually stir in milk; cook until thickened and bubbly.
4. Reduce heat; stir in cheese until melted. Add ham and turkey; cook, stirring occasionally, until heated, about 20 minutes. (Do not boil.).
5. Serve with toppings.
6. NOTE: When you have a hot brown sandwich, it is layered with ham and turkey slices, a couple of slices of bacon, a tomato, and totally smothered in cheese sauce. So if you want the "hot brown" experience, top the soup with the tomato, bacon, and a sprinkle of parsley. It is delicious! Also, the 30 minutes it takes goes rather fast since the meat is already cooked. It's mostly just getting everything hot and making the cheese soup.