Recipes that appear in Idea Alley have not been tested by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
It seems many of the recipe requests that come in these days are for dishes from restaurants that closed long, long ago. Recipes from current restaurants are notoriously difficult to obtain, and locating recipes from restaurants that have been closed for decades is nearly impossible.
But sometimes we get lucky.
This recipe for chili (aka hot dog sauce) like Perciful's is for NLRHS54. It is from our archives, originally shared by Mary Jo Lusk.
These "copycat" recipes were created through "trial and error," Lusk wrote in 2002, "in an attempt to re-create the wonderful hot dogs we used to get at Perciful's and the Blue Goose in Little Rock."
Unfortunately, the brands of chili powder called for in the recipe may be hard to find or unavailable. The best I can suggest is to use your favorite chili powder.
Hot Dog Sauce like Perciful's
1 1/2 pounds ground chuck
Water
1 onion, peeled, chopped
1 (6-ounce) can Hunt's brand tomato paste
1 tablespoon celery seeds
1 tablespoon salt
4 teaspoons granulated sugar
2 tablespoons C&F OR Gebhardt's brand chili powder
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 teaspoons ground cumin
Place ground chuck in a heavy-bottom, stainless-steel Dutch oven; add enough water just to cover meat; bring to a boil.
Add onion and simmer until meat begins to turn gray. Remove from heat; cool slightly. Transfer meat to a food processor fitted with a metal blade; process (in about 3 batches) until meat reaches a fine consistency.
Return mixture to Dutch oven; add tomato paste, celery seeds, salt, sugar, chili powder, garlic powder, black pepper and cumin. Simmer 10 to 15 minutes. Add more water if needed to make a rather thin consistency. Simmer over medium-low heat about 15 minutes more.
Serve sauce with Slaw for Hot Dogs (recipe follows) over cooked hot dogs in a heated hot-dog bun.
Slaw for Hot Dogs
1/2 large head cabbage
1 cup Hellmann's brand mayonnaise
1/2 cup French's brand prepared mustard
2 teaspoons granulated sugar
1/8 teaspoon celery salt
In a food processor using a metal blade, process cabbage to a mushy consistency. Add remaining ingredients and blend thoroughly.
Keep refrigerated.
Digging deeper into the archives revealed this recipe for Sullivan's tamales, also requested by NLRHS54. It was published in Idea Alley in 1981. It was shared by an anonymous Little Rock reader who wrote:
"This is the old Sullivan hot tamale recipe as was given to me. I wish we could contact some of the Sullivans to see if they would help us, since the directions are so indefinite. I assume the tamales are made like our mothers used to cook, by eye and feel."
The recipe is quite vague. I have filled in what I can, but it is by no means complete. If you make it, I suggest consulting other tamale recipes to fill in the gaps.
Sullivan's Tamales
Filling:
1 pound suet
2 pounds meat (beef, chicken, rabbit), stewed until tender, 2 cups cooking liquid reserved
2 or 3 tablespoons chili powder
3 cloves garlic, chopped fine
Salt
Dough:
1/2 cup water or more as necessary
Red pepper
Chili powder, to taste
2 cups masa harina
Corn husks or baking paper
For the filling: Render suet (covered) in oven. Pour off fat and save. Grind remainder of suet and add to shredded meat, along with the chili powder, garlic, salt and the reserved cooking liquid. Simmer until mixture reaches the "right consistency, neither runny nor dry."
For the dough: Combine the reserved beef fat, water, salt to taste, red pepper and chili powder in a pot and gradually add the masa harina. Cook until done. Will thicken when cool.
To assemble: Soak corn husks in boiling water for 30 minutes, then drain and pat dry.
Spread a tablespoon of the dough thinly over the husk (if husks are small you may need to overlap two). Place a tablespoon of meat mixture in the center. Amounts of dough and filling are determined by how large the tamales will be. Fold the right side of the husk slightly over half the filling. Fold the left side until the dough meets. Fold the top and bottom up toward the center.
Stack the tamales on a rack or colander in a deep pan to which boiling water has been added. The tamales should not touch the water. Bring to a boil again, cover pan, lower heat and steam for 1 hour.
The following requests are still unanswered. Many are for recipes from restaurants that closed long ago, but a few are from places still in business.
REQUESTS
• Hotel Sam Peck Meatloaf with Creole sauce for John Shelby.
• Salad dressing like that served on Casey's Bar-B-Q barbecued beef salad for Marlane McLain.
• Cheese dip like El Matador in Pine Bluff for Debra Dardenne.
• Barbecue sauce like Herb's at Fair Park Avenue and 30th Street for Laura Adams.
• Chicken 1620 as served at Savoy 1620 for Karen Branton.
• Chocolate ganache with raspberry sauce like that served at Mermaids Seafood Restaurant in Fayetteville for Eleanor Dalmut.
• Candy recipes that use Splenda instead of sugar for Pat Hines.
• Cream cheese bar cookies for Pamela Johnson.
Send recipe contributions, requests and culinary questions to Kelly Brant, Idea Alley, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, P.O. Box 2221, Little Rock, Ark. 72203; email:
kbrant@arkansasonline.com
Please include a daytime phone number.
Food on 06/01/2016