Garlic toum sauce
Toum: the fierce, snow-white Lebanese garlic emulsion that makes or breaks a shawarma wrap. Four ingredients, no eggs, and one technique — add the oil slowly enough and it whips into a thick, glossy sauce that keeps for weeks.
Instructions
- 1
Peel the garlic and split each clove to pull out the green germ in the centre. Skipping this is the number one cause of bitter toum.
- 2
Put the garlic and salt in a tall, narrow food processor bowl and blitz for 30 seconds. Scrape the sides down thoroughly, then blitz again until you have a smooth, pale paste with no visible chunks.
- 3
With the motor running, add the oil one teaspoon at a time for the first 100 ml. This stage is where the emulsion is built and it cannot be rushed — count to three between additions.
- 4
Once the mixture has visibly thickened and turned opaque white, alternate: about 60 ml of oil in a thin thread, then a teaspoon of lemon juice, and repeat.
- 5
Continue until all the oil and lemon juice are in. The toum should be stiff enough to hold a peak, like a firm mayonnaise.
- 6
Blend in the ice water at the very end. It stabilises the emulsion and takes the harsh edge off the raw garlic.
- 7
Transfer to a clean jar, press cling film onto the surface and refrigerate at least 12 hours before using — the burn mellows noticeably overnight.
- 8
If the emulsion breaks and turns soupy, do not throw it out: start again with one fresh garlic clove blitzed to a paste in a clean bowl, and dribble the broken mixture into it slowly as if it were oil.
Notes
Use fresh, firm garlic — old sprouted cloves are bitter and refuse to emulsify properly. Never use olive oil: its polyphenols break down under the blade and turn the sauce acrid. Keeps 4 weeks refrigerated in a sealed jar, and the flavour improves for the first week.
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