The Magic Behind Toum: A Garlic Lover’s Dream
Why It Works
Creating a smooth garlic paste is the secret to making toum, a traditional Lebanese garlic sauce that stands out for its unique texture and flavor. When you blend garlic, it releases natural emulsifiers from its cell walls, allowing the sauce to maintain stability without the need for eggs. By alternating between adding oil and small amounts of lemon juice or water, you can prevent the emulsion from becoming too oily and breaking apart.
Whenever my husband and I indulge in takeout from our favorite Lebanese restaurant, it’s not just about the chicken shawarma or mixed grill; it’s all about that irresistible toum. Despite my attempts to request extra servings, they only provide a few small containers. I find myself carefully rationing this precious sauce while my husband devours his share with reckless abandon—leaving me scrambling for more.
Fortunately, making toum at home is simple and it keeps well in the fridge for up to a month. This means I can focus on enjoying dinner rather than worrying about running out of this delicious condiment.
Toum is more than just another dip; it’s an essential part of Lebanese cuisine that enhances various dishes—from soups and pasta to marinated chicken and roasted vegetables. Its robust garlic flavor adds zest without requiring tedious peeling or chopping. Plus, it serves as an excellent vegan alternative to mayonnaise—perfect for elevating any sandwich!
What Is Toum?
Toum resembles mayonnaise but relies on garlic instead of eggs as its stabilizing agent. Like mayo, toum consists of an emulsion where oil is blended into water with help from emulsifiers.
An emulsion combines two liquids that typically don’t mix by dispersing one into tiny droplets within the other. While vigorous shaking (like whisking oil into vinaigrette) can create temporary emulsions without stabilizers, true stability requires emulsifiers that coat each droplet and reduce surface tension.
Mayonnaise achieves stability thanks to lecithin found in egg yolks—one egg can emulsify up to a gallon of oil! In contrast, toum uses less stable proteins found in crushed garlic which makes crafting this sauce slightly trickier but equally rewarding with patience.
How To Make Toum
To start your homemade toum journey:
- Prepare Fresh Garlic: Use fresh cloves; avoid pre-peeled ones as they lose flavor over time.
- Remove Germs: Slice each clove lengthwise and remove any green sprouts inside—they can impart bitterness. 3. Blend Into Paste: Combine peeled cloves with kosher salt in a food processor until finely minced.
- Add Lemon Juice: Incorporate fresh lemon juice gradually while blending until you achieve a smooth consistency.
- Slowly Add Oil: Drizzle in neutral oil slowly—a thin stream works best—to maintain emulsion integrity.
- Alternate Liquids: After every half cup of oil added, include spoonfuls of lemon juice or ice water to keep everything fluffy while preventing separation.
For those moments when your toum doesn’t come together perfectly (perhaps due to overheating), don’t fret! You can rescue it by mixing one egg white with some broken emulsion until fluffy before slowly incorporating the rest back into it—creating a creamy delight even if it’s not traditional!
With homemade toum at your fingertips, you’ll never have to settle for meager takeout portions again!
Traditional Toum Recipe
Ingredients:
- 1 cup garlic cloves (about 4 ½ ounces)
- 2 teaspoons Diamond Crystal kosher salt
- ¼ cup fresh lemon juice (from approximately two lemons), divided
- ¼ cup ice water (divided)
- 3 cups neutral oil (like grapeseed or canola), divided
Instructions:
- Split each clove lengthwise using a paring knife; remove any germ present.
- In your food processor bowl: combine de-germed garlic cloves with kosher salt; pulse until finely minced.
- Add one tablespoon lemon juice; continue processing until smooth and slightly fluffy.
- With processor running: drizzle in half-cup portions of neutral oil followed by tablespoons of remaining lemon juice alternately until fully incorporated. 5.Transfer finished toum into an airtight container; refrigerate up to one month.
Special Equipment Needed:
- Food processor or mortar & pestle
- Paring knife
Tips:
For optimal texture use either method mentioned above—blenders may yield denser results similar to mayonnaise rather than airy traditional toum! If needed adjustments arise during preparation due breakage issues simply follow earlier instructions using egg whites as fixers!
Now you’re ready! Stock up on homemade toum so you’ll always have enough flavorful goodness at hand whenever cravings strike!