Garlic, oil, lemon and salt whipped into a white emulsion stiff enough to stand a spoon in. No egg, no dairy, no shortcuts — and it splits if you rush it, which is why most people give up after one attempt.
Peel the cloves and split each one to pull out the green germ in the centre. The germ is bitter and it is the reason badly made toum has a harsh aftertaste. With this much garlic it takes ten minutes and it is worth every one of them.
Put the garlic and salt in a tall narrow food processor or the cup of a stick blender. Run it until the garlic is a fine paste, stopping to scrape the sides down twice. Any lumps left here will stop the emulsion forming.
With the motor running, add the oil in the thinnest trickle you can manage. For the first 100ml this should feel absurdly slow, almost drop by drop. If you pour, it splits. There is no way around this part.
Once it starts to thicken and turn white, add a tablespoon of lemon juice, then more oil, then lemon, alternating until both are used up. Keep the oil stream thin throughout.
Beat in the iced water a spoonful at a time. This stabilises the emulsion and lightens the colour to a proper bright white. It should be thick, glossy and hold a peak.
Store in a sealed jar in the fridge. It is fiercely sharp on day one and mellows over three or four days. It keeps for a month.
The oil went in too fast — it is nearly always that. Rescue it like this: clean the processor, put in one fresh garlic clove blitzed to a paste (or a tablespoon of the successfully emulsified toum if you have any), and with the motor running trickle the split mixture back in very slowly. It will come back together.
Traditionally it is made in a mortar and pestle, and it works, but it takes a long time and a strong arm. A tall jug and a stick blender is the easiest modern method — the narrow cup keeps the emulsion together.
Two usual causes: the green germ was left in the cloves, or you used olive oil. Olive oil's polyphenols turn bitter under the shearing force of a blender. Use a neutral oil.
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