Recipes that appear in Idea Alley have not been tested by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
Since last week I've heard from several more readers regarding where to buy Gebhardt's brand chili powder. I'm told it is available at Brookshire's in Pine Bluff and can be ordered from Mild Bill's Spices (mildbillsspices.com).
I also heard from members of the Sullivan family regarding the tamale recipe that ran June 1.
It seems there were multiple Sullivan's locations -- one in Little Rock on Asher Avenue and one in North Little Rock on Pike Avenue -- owned and run by different branches of the Sullivan family tree. And the recipe may have varied by location.
Charley Sullivan tells me there were/are two: "a group in Little Rock and a group in North Little Rock. Both made tamales.
"My grandmother married Hobart Lee Sullivan [of the NLR family] which is where, I suppose, she got the recipe. And she had the gumption to open a restaurant, which was pretty gutsy ....
"For all I know, there are those in NLR who did not appreciate Hobart Lee sharing the recipe .... I never heard of any resentment, but there may have been some. Even though we are related, I do not know any of the NLR Sullivans.
"Somewhere back in the day, the family sold tamales from a pushcart in downtown Little Rock. That would be before grandma's time.
"The restaurant on Asher was the location of the state offices' annual tamale eating contest; it was also the restaurant that the Gazette's Richard Allin (who wrote the column Our Town) frequented. He wrote about the tamales several times over the years."
Angela Sullivan Lowe writes:
"My family was amused at the 'Sullivan's Tamales' recipe that was in today's paper. It was nowhere near correct in ingredients nor process.
"My father, Hobart Sullivan -- who owned the restaurant after his parents -- asked me to contact you because people will be greatly disappointed if they try to make this recipe thinking it will taste like Sullivan's. The real recipe is a family secret."
In the same column Debra Dardenne requested cheese dip like El Matador's in Pine Bluff.
"This is a recipe I have used for years from the Dumas Red Hot Mamas Desha County Hospital auxiliary cookbook from 1980," writes Linda Norris.
Cheese Dip
1/2 stick butter
4 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 cups milk
1/2 pound American cheese, grated
1 tablespoon paprika
1 tablespoon chili powder
3/4 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon mustard powder
1 teaspoon jalapeno pepper juice
1 jalapeno pepper, chopped
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
In saucepan, melt butter. Add flour and cook until smooth. Add milk, stir until it thickens. Add cheese and stir until it melts. Add other ingredients. Best served warm.
REQUESTS
• Meatloaf like Your Mama's Good Cooking for Debbie Oxandale. "My husband and I ate at Your Mama's Good Cooking for years, until they sadly closed. As a matter of fact, it was our first lunch date, 22 years ago. We fell in love with their meatloaf with very tangy (Creole?) sauce on top. I've never had any better. Ever."
• Hot dog chili sauce like Mac's for an unidentified reader. "Mac's was a drive-in somewhere around 12th Street in Little Rock, and they had the most wonderful foot-long hot dogs covered with a nonmessy chili that had the most wonderful taste in the world. I can still remember what it tasted like, but I have no idea how to duplicate it. Do you think one of your readers would?"
• Spaghetti sauce like long-closed D&D Cafe on Main Street in Little Rock for Tommy Pauschert. Based on previous requests for spaghetti like D&D's, the dish was Cincinnati-style, as in more like chili than marinara.
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 06/15/2016