Toum: Lebanese Garlic Spread

This is the definitive garlic sauce, perfect for serving like a mayonnaise - with grilled chicken, Lebanese style, or simply as a condiment for sandwiches, meats and salads. It 's like a mayonnaise - with garlic instead of eggs!


1 whole garlic bulb, broken into cloves and peeled
A good pinch of salt
1/2 teaspoon citric acid, dissolved in half a glass of water
Approximately one litre of vegetable oil

In a blender, pulverize the garlic, scraping down the sides every now and then, until the garlic is finely minced. Keeping the blender going, begin adding the oil, using a container with a fine spout (one of those oil and vinegar cruets with a fine pouring spout is ideal). Keep adding the oil very gradually until you have used about 1/2 litre.
Keeping the blender running, slowly add 3 teaspoons of the water in which you have dissolved the citric acid. Continue to blend and add the rest of the oil, as gradually as before.
When it is nearly all added, blend in the remaining citric acid solution, followed by the rest of the oil and season to taste with salt.