If you love garlic and mayonnaise, but don’t love eggs, toum is the answer.

Straight out of the Lebanese canon, toum is garlic, lemon, and oil whipped into a rich, glossy spread that could easily mistaken for mayonnaise.

Until the flavor hits – huge garlic notes that ennoble any bread, vegetable, or meat, especially grilled meals.

Have you had garlicky mayonnaise “white sauce” served with Levantine cuisine, such as the smashing example at Almaza Grill? That’s toum deeply diluted with mayonnaise, usually 1-3 or 1-4 toum-to-mayonnaise.

The magic resides in the garlic clove itself. Whipping fresh garlic cloves in a blender bursts cell walls to release natural emulsifiers.

Make this recipe, and you can try the real deal, potent and gorgeously smooth. It makes two cups, which will keep for a month in the refrigerator, in an airtight container.

Toum

Cooking time: 20 minutes

Makes: 30-40 servings

Ingredients

1 cup garlic cloves, preferably hardneck varieties

1 teaspoon salt

¼ cup lemon juice, preferably fresh

¼ cup cold water

3 cups vegetable, canola, or grapeseed oil

Instructions

Cut each garlic clove in half lengthwise, and remove the sproutlike core. This cuts down on bitterness.

Put garlic in a food processor, with salt.

Pulse into a lumpy paste, stopping occasionally to push the paste into the blade’s path with a spatula.

Add 1 tablespoon of lemon juice, and process until it starts to thicken.

Add another tablespoon of juice. Whip until it starts getting fluffy.

With processor running, drizzle in ½ cup of oil in a thin stream, taking about 60 seconds.

Add another tablespoon of juice. Repeat until all oil is added.

That’s it. Traditionally served with pita bread, grilled foods, and fried seafood, toum is useful anywhere you need a hit of garlic.

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