If there were ever a love song to garlic, Lebanese toum (pronounced TOOM) is the finest aria of them all. Toum, which means “garlic” in Arabic, is pure garlic flavor that is brightened with lemon; you’ll find yourself stirring toum into just about any recipe that calls for minced garlic, as well as its classic Lebanese pairing with grilled meats such as Yogurt Marinated Chicken Skewers. A spoonful of toum elevates any steamed or roasted vegetable, or pasta or grains—or as a dipping sauce for good bread. I’ve even taken to slathering it on my homemade white pizzas before baking. Making toum requires a slow and steady hand to emulsify the garlic and oil in the food processor; consider toum like an aïoli with no egg. There are many methods cooks use to avoid a broken toum emulsion, such as adding an egg white, cooked potato, or cornstarch to the mix. I like my toum made without any of those, which can be replaced with patience—and a little ice water, which helps the emulsion hold.
Recipe information
Yield
Makes about 2 cups (420 g)
Ingredients
Preparation
Step 1
Peel the garlic cloves and slice them in half lengthwise. If there is a green germ in any of the cloves, remove it to prevent the bitter, burning flavor it imparts.
Step 2
Process the garlic cloves with the salt in the food processor, stopping and scraping down the sides a few times, until the garlic is minced. Add the lemon juice and pulse several times to combine.
Step 3
With the processor on, begin to drizzle the oil in so slowly that the stream turns to a dribble at times; use the oil drip hole in the top of the processor if yours has one. After 1/4 cup (60 mL) of the oil has been added, slowly pour in a tablespoon (15 mL) of the ice water. Continue slowly drizzling in the oil and slowly adding a tablespoon of ice water after every 1/4 cup (60 mL) of oil until the sauce is thickened and all of the oil has been incorporated. This takes about 7 minutes.
Step 4
The sauce will be slightly thick, with some body, but still pourable. Store the toum in an airtight container in the refrigerator for several weeks.
