high altitude stall recovery in the 4 transport jets I have flown (many certified in the 60's) have always called for loss of altitude in stall recovery or at least indicated that great altitude loss should be expected.
It sounds like you were misinformed prior to this.
and I will add that low altitude stall recovery (powering out) is only valid in a plane that is approaching a stall but NOT YET STALLED>
extending leading edge devices can also be part of the recovery