Redefining ice cream flavors with Salt & Straw's Tyler Malek

This week, we’re excited to welcome TYLER MALEK to Salt + Spine, the podcast on stories on cookbooks.

Tyler is the head ice cream maker (and co-founder) of SALT & STRAW, the ingredient-focused scoop shop from Portland, Oregon. Tyler opened Salt & Straw with his cousin in 2011. Working with local farmers, chefs, chocolatiers, and brewers, Tyler has invented hundreds of ice cream flavors (many of them award-winning combos.) His first cookbook is the Salt & Straw Ice Cream Cookbook.

“You look at some really old—200-year-old—recipes and you'd find artichoke ice cream, which seems ridiculous. Actually, this is not that weird; it's just that we got so used to vanilla, chocolate, and like the weirdest flavor we could create was, what, butter pecan?",

In today’s show, we’re talking with Tyler about the humble origins of Salt & Straw, about his appreciation for the creative constraints of ice cream making, and playing a flavor creation game.

Also in today’s show: We’re catching up with food writer and cookbook reviewer PAULA FORBES to discuss this fall’s upcoming cookbooks.

And: We’re stopping by OMNIVORE BOOKS in San Francisco to chat with CELIA SACK.