Tyler Malek might be our favorite storyteller. His medium? Not Substack, but ice cream.
Tyler is the head ice cream maker at the iconic Portland-based Salt & Straw, which he co-founded with his cousin Kim Malek in 2011. Back then, the self-taught ice cream wizard initially sold his genre-bending (and absurdly delicious) flavors from a cart, the kind you might see holding court next to a soccer field on the periphery of a park.
Even in those early days it was clear that Tyler’s ice cream was something special. Beyond the high butterfat content that created an unbelievably lush texture, each flavor contained a story deep within its folds. Whether about the magic of a vanilla bean, an artisanal chocolatier, or the sweetness of sun-kissed Oregon strawberries during the summer, every scoop became an opportunity for Tyler to start a conversation with Salt & Straw’s rapidly growing fanbase.
Today, he and Kim have established a mini ice cream empire with more than 40 Salt & Straw locations across Oregon, California, Florida, Washington, Arizona, Nevada, and, most recently, New York. While their expansion has brought them to all corners of the country, their humble ice cream cart roots are still ingrained in the company culture – and Tyler’s thought-provoking flavors.
Salt & Straw’s community-focused ethos is also on display in Tyler’s new cookbook, America’s Most Iconic Ice Creams, co-authored with J.J. Goode. Early in the book, Tyler unravels the impetus behind his approach to flavor development that stems from an insatiable curiosity to learn about ingredients in all forms. We saw this firsthand when we had our pinch-us-moment last summer, and Tyler masterminded a Smoked Mac & Cheese ice cream featuring our Flour + Water Foods’ elbow mac pasta + Beecher’s Smoked Flagship Cheese.
With America’s Most Iconic Ice Creams, an ode to “classic flavors and creative riffs,” hitting shelves only a few weeks ago, Tyler is the perfect "Pasta Person" to wrap-up up our cookbook series. Read on for our Q&A with him below, and for our San Francisco friends, mark Wednesday, June 4 in your calendars. That day, we’ll be serving up a special Salt & Straw Salted, Malted, Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough ice cream sandwich dreamt up by our Flour + Water Pizzeria executive sous chef Robert Gilling at both our flagship Pizzeria in North Beach and new Flour + Water Pizza Shop in Mission Rock.
Your new cookbook is all about celebrating nostalgic ice cream flavors, along with variations on those core scoops. What’s your first memory of eating ice cream as a child?
One of my first ever ice cream memories was eating cookies & cream ice cream while walking on the beach at the Oregon Coast. To this day, it’s the best ice cream I’ve ever eaten because of how wonderful that memory is. I think that idea of nostalgia in food resonates with a lot of people, and it's something I think about a lot. It’s a great reminder that, for chefs, nostalgia is probably the biggest competition we have when creating a new flavor or dish.
In the early days of Salt & Straw's development, Stumptown Coffee’s The Annex, then a “neo-punk outfit” in Portland, completely changed your worldview of ingredient sourcing, as well as your approach to creating ice cream flavors. If we were to peer into your pantry at home, what are five ingredients that you always have stocked?
I’m classically French trained so can make almost any dish at home with the key staples, with a clear PNW twist on sourcing: A great French butter, 3-5 different types of salt (Diamond Crystal Kosher, Jacobsen Salt Co.'s Oregon Finishing Salt, and Bitterman’s Fleur de Sel), Katz's champagne vinegar, a couple open bottles of Oregon Pinot noir and Chardonnay, and a fresh loaf of bread from Ken’s Artisan Bakers.
Walk us through your “Shift Notes.” What’s a day-in-the-life like for you?
9:15 every morning is called “pint cuttings” in our test kitchen where we cut into a sampling of everything made in the kitchen the day before, usually about 15-20 small bites of ice cream, cakes, caramel, etc. From there, we spend about an hour each day talking through all the projects in our test kitchen, reviewing the company targets and tasting recent samples. Then leave time in the second half of the day for follow up meetings or kitchen time.
What album is playing when you’re in the Test Kitchen developing a new flavor?
Depends on the flavor! For a more free flowing flavor I’d be listening to Pink Martini’s Jes de Ouis!; for a more technical recipe, I’d be listening to Portugal. The Man.’s Evil Friends.
We always ask our Pasta People to share their go-to pasta dish. What’s in your current rotation + what ice cream are you pairing with it for dessert?
Griddled halibut, campanelle, a super bright beurre blanc. It’s the easiest recipe in the world and hits everything I want with a great white fish and, sometimes, I can convince my children that it’s “fancy mac n cheese.” For ice cream, our Arbequina Olive Oil ice cream with a dash of microplaned lemon zest, finishing salt, and fresh whipped cream would pair perfectly.
Photo Credit: Salt & Straw
