Recipes that appear in Idea Alley have not been tested by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
We've got lots of restaurant recipe requests coming in, but no recipe submissions. Alley Kats, we want your recipes. We need your recipes. Let us know what you're cooking or would be cooking if you had the energy to cook.
Many Kats are especially interested in air fryer recipes that go beyond the standard fries, chicken strips and pizza pockets. What do you like to make in your air fryer? Head Kat doesn't own an air fryer so she's not much help here.
And now on to these requests ...
Michael McClellan would like a recipe for lasagna like that served at The Villa. Even if you're not sure your lasagna recipe is like The Villa's, send it anyway.
Robert Waddell is seeking recipes for several favorites:
- ◼️ Dinner rolls like those at the Venesian Inn in Tontitown
- ◼️ Barbecue sauce like that from Craig's BBQ in DeValls Bluff
- ◼️ The sauce from the Shack (long closed) in Little Rock
- ◼️ Sauce from Fred's Hickory Inn in Bentonville, which Waddell describes as "thin vinegar sauce with a sweet tang."
- ◼️ And finally, the yellow and spicy white cheese dips from Stoby's in Conway
Did you hear my sigh of exasperation at the mention of the Shack?
The Shack's sauce may be the most requested and most debated recipe in Idea Alley. Ever.
(Fruit punch like Mexico Chiquito's is a close second.)
Kessler (Casey) Slaughter and his wife, Iris, opened The Shack Restaurant at Seventh and Bishop streets back in 1934. The restaurant moved to the northwest corner of Victory and West Third streets in 1951. The Slaughters' Shack barbecue was legendary. They sold the restaurant (and all of its recipes) in 1967 to Real Estate Services, Inc. according to the Arkansas Gazette archives. Under a subsidiary named Shack Inc., Real Estate Services expanded the Shack to 13 locations around the state. Subsequent owners of the Shack included Multiplex Inc., George L. Cook and Claude Carpenter. By the late 1980s, the Shack chain was no more. The West Third and Victory location closed for good in 1988.
Every so often we read about someone with plans to revive the Shack and/or bottle and sell the sauce, but nothing ever seems to come of those.
As early as 1969, copycat recipes for barbecue sauce like The Shack's were appearing in Idea Alley and by the early 1990s the debates over which recipe was THE recipe was on. Richard Allin also devoted many column inches to the Shack in his Our Town column.
The real recipe is likely lost to history.
This one, from 1969, is described as "a quick barbecue sauce which is very similar to that at the Shack."
Looking through the half-dozen other recipes published as "like the Shack's," the ingredients are similar, although some versions include fresh onion and Coca-Cola.
Three of those recipes can be found on pages 32-33 of "Idea Alley: 50 Years of Recipes from the Arkansas Democrat, Arkansas Gazette and Arkansas Democrat-Gazette."
Barbecue Sauce (like the Shack's)
- 2 ¼ tablespoons sugar
- 2 ¼ tablespoons chili powder
- 2 tablespoons pepper
- 2 ¼ teaspoons salt
- 1 pint ketchup
- 1 pint water
- 1 cup dark vinegar
- Onion powder (amount not given)
Mix and simmer 2 hours.
Email recipe contributions, requests and culinary questions to: kbrant@adgnewsroom.com