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Episode 42 — Fried dill pickle
Hi, I'm Secretary of State Mark Martin, and welcome to This Week in Arkansas History.
Restaurants across the South offer fried pickles on their menus.
That's especially appropriate here in Arkansas,
where the fried dill pickle became famous.
Bernell "Fatman" Austin opened a drive-in restaurant in Atkins in 1960.
It was across the highway from the Atkins Pickle Plant.
He decided to develop a gimmick to attract more business to his unique location.
In 1963, Austin introduced the fried dill pickle
at his Duchess Drive-In.
He continued to tweak the recipe that summer until he reached perfection...
a large pickle sliced lengthwise, breaded and
deep fried until golden brown.
It became popular very quickly.
Other restaurants adopted the fried pickle,
but no one has duplicated his secret recipe for the breading.
Austin died in 1999, but his family still produces
fried dill pickles during Picklefest,
still using the original recipe that remains a family secret.
Join me next week for more Arkansas history.