By David Krogh
Ice cream is often thought of as just a summer time treat. And its popularity grows along with the seasonal coming of warmer temperatures. However, Salt & Straw co-founder and Portland resident Tyler Malek and food writer JJ Goode have teamed up to create an ice cream recipe book that encourages home ice cream making year round with the same level of excellence and intricacy that you see at the Salt & Straw shops. Their book Salt & Straw: America’s Most Iconic Ice Creams includes a subtitle which says it all: “Classic Flavors and Creative Riffs.”
Co-author Malek said, “I am the Head Ice Cream Maker at Salt & Straw and I’m heavily involved in the day-to-day testing of flavors and innovating ice cream with our team. My cousin and I, Kim, who is the CEO, founded the company in 2011.”
What’s most interesting about the book is not the fact that it includes exquisitely flavored ice cream (and other) recipes, but that it includes discussions intended to make the ice cream making experience exceptional. For example, there is considerable discussion of key flavor elements, including vanilla beans, chocolate, nuts and coffee beans so that you can understand the best types of ingredients for the best flavors. The book also talks about the tools to use, such as types of ice cream makers. And before the book gets into the nitty gritty of its multi-faceted recipes, it shows you how to make “Salt & Straw’s coveted 17% butterfat base” from which so many of the ice cream recipes originate. After that, the sky’s the limit as you consider making such delicacies as Hazelnut Cookies and Cream or Honey Almond Rocky Road.
Creating a recipe book for an organization like Salt & Straw which has new flavors introduced all of the time was not easy. “We set out to build a storytelling element around iconic ice cream flavors—strawberry, vanilla and chocolate—as the centerpiece. Our goal was to write recipes that fully showcase the depth and character of each ingredient, like strawberry in a tres leches cake, for example. We focused on flavor pairings that defy expectations and elevate the classics in surprising ways,” said Malek.
Sorting the multitude of recipes was especially harrowing. Malek stated, “One of the biggest challenges was narrowing down the list to the 10 most iconic ice cream flavors in the country. It sparked a lot of debate between our team, since we have employees across the region. West Coast folks advocated for a Pecan Praline, but there were strong opinions from our East Coast crew advocating for Pistachio! But the ultimate goal was, we wanted to be sure to include the most interesting versions of each flavor, and to do that, it took a lot of trial and error.”
Since it began in 2011, Salt & Straw has created at least 2,000 different ice cream varieties. “While some flavors appear regularly, our menu changes every month, so there’s always something new to try. Many of the flavors in the book have shown up in the shop, but what you find depends on the season,” said Malek.
The Oregonian recently identified SE Division St. as a focal point for ice cream establishments in Portland, as five are located along this street, including Salt & Straw (3345 SE Division St.). To this information Malek responded, “In my opinion, for the past two decades, SE Division has been one of the most vibrant restaurant rows in the world, with iconic restaurants such as Pok Pok starting here in a little house. If you want to be part of a passionate, creative food community, this is where you start.”
And if it wasn’t hard enough creating a recipe book, consider how difficult it is to create recipes for the many shops. “Since our opening, 14 years ago, ice cream has been my entire life. I was fortunate enough to take an Ice Cream studies food science course at Penn State University, but everything in this book has been learned through continuous trial and error,” stated Malek. “And after testing and failing at over 10,000 recipes, this book compiles all the lessons and notes into 100 recipes for home cooks to enjoy.”
Salt & Straw: America’s Most Iconic Ice Creams was published by Clarkson Potter Publishers (crownpublishing.com/imprint/clarkson-potter). This book is a sequel to the Salt & Straw Ice Cream Cookbook published in 2019. Both books are available online, in SE Portland at Powell’s Books on Hawthorne (powells.com), at Salt & Straw stores (saltandstraw.com) and at other booksellers in the Portland area. For more information and upcoming events for this book, visit instagram.com/saltandstraw.
Salt & Straw co-founder and co-author Tyler Malek. Photo by Kate Hailey.
