Lebanese Garlic Sauce Recipe: Toum, the Ultimate Guide

Before you start, ensure that all ingredients are at room temperature for a more reliable outcome. Also if you are using a large food processor make sure you use at least 3 heads of garlic otherwise smaller quantities of garlic won't be easily chopped by the blades.

Add the garlic and salt in the food processor and run for 10-20 seconds.

Stop processor, scrap garlic down the sides, then run processor again for another 10-20 seconds. Repeat process 3-4 times until garlic starts to turn pasty and looks crushed. The garlic must look well crushed as an important step before proceeding.

At this point, turn the processor back on and keep it on until the end. If however you're using a high speed blender instead of a food processor, you may need to start and stop it occasionally so it doesn't overheat.

While the food processor is turned on, start adding oil slowly in a very thin stream, each ½ cup at a time. After adding the first half cup you will start seeing the garlic emulsify and turn into a paste already.

While still running, add ½ teaspoon of lemon juice very slowly, in a thin stream.

Wait on it a few seconds until the lemon juice is well absorbed then go back to repeating the same process of slowly adding ½ cup of oil, waiting a few seconds, then adding ½ teaspoon of lemon juice until you’ve used all ingredients. This process should take 8-10 minutes.

If at any point you see that the paste is turning liquid, it may be an indication that you’ve added either too much lemon juice, or oil, or you may have added them at a fast rate. In this case your options may be limited especially if the paste completely breaks. Sometimes adding a cube of ice may help.