Description
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.
