before I get the ridicule of everyone...but in the 737/300/400/500 level D sims I used to do the controls software on, the pilots recognised the onset of stall by the buffet quite a bit before...so the stick shaker was never an issue. Is it different for a 'dirty' stall or are the sims incorrect?...or the the pilots more aware in the sim?
In my job we teach stall recovery (clean of course) at max cruise altitude and again at very low altitude (500 feet agl) in the full landing configuration and approach power (nominally 55 percent N1).
At high altitude there is quite violent buffet before stick shaker actuation and this buffet is entirely different to flying in turbulence. Recovery is initiated at buffet in the first place. We then demonstrate recovery at stick shaker to show the loss in height needed to accelerate back to Vref 40 plus 100 knots. At 50 tonnes in the 737-300 this equates to 230 knots IAS - enough to prevent further low speed buffet. A height loss of 2000 to 3000 feet can be expected.
The landing configuration stall recovery with approach power is an entirely different beast. There is no discernable buffet and things go real quiet until the very sudden and might I say, startling onset of stick shaker. It takes careful pitch control handling to keep out of the stick shaker and an initial body angle of around ten degrees gives a compromise between safe rate of climb and low airspeed - keeping in mind the stick shaker operates in that configuration about 25 knots below Vref. The stick shaker is the life-saver in a landing configuration stall recovery