Toum Grilled Cheese 

By Ham El-Waylly

Published Feb. 11, 2023

Toum Grilled Cheese 
David Malosh for The New York Times. Food Stylist:Simon Andrews.
Total Time
15 minutes, plus 15 minutes for the toum (optional)
Rating
4(1,080)
Comments
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When I was a teenager, I remember getting freshly baked akkawi cheese manakeesh with sides of cucumber and beet-stained turnip pickles and little plastic containers of toum for dipping at a Lebanese bakery in Doha, Qatar. Cheese manakeesh, a topped flatbread found throughout the Levant, is delicious with toum, a sauce made by combining garlic, lemon juice, salt and oil. This grilled cheese hits those notes, skipping a trip to the bakery. Slathering the bread with toum instead of butter instantly gives it garlic bread vibes. Though you can purchase toum at many supermarkets and Middle Eastern specialty stores, making it at home gives it a more vibrant punch. It lasts for months and can be used anywhere a tangy, garlicky wallop is needed. Use in salad dressings, as a rub on roasted meats, as a sandwich condiment, or even as a dip for crudités.

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Ingredients

Yield:1 sandwich, plus 1¾ cups toum

    For the Homemade Toum (optional)

    • 1medium head of garlic, peeled (about 12 cloves)
    • 2tablespoons lemon juice (from 1 lemon), plus more to taste
    • 2teaspoons kosher salt, plus more to taste
    • 1½cups neutral oil, like grapeseed oil

    For the Sandwich

    • 2slices bread, preferably from a rustic loaf, no more than ½ inch thick
    • 3slices Muenster cheese
    • 4cornichons, thinly sliced lengthwise
    • 2tablespoons toum (prepared or homemade), plus more for dipping 
    • Kosher salt 
Ingredient Substitution Guide

Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Prepare the toum (or proceed to Step 4, if using store-bought toum): Place garlic, lemon juice, kosher salt and 1 tablespoon water in a tall, narrow container; blend with an immersion blender until smooth. Let sit for at least 10 minutes to mellow out some of the raw garlic’s bite.

  2. Step 2

    Dump the neutral oil on top, then lower the immersion blender to the bottom of the container. Turn the blender on, but don’t yet move it. Once the mixture starts emulsifying and thickening, slowly tilt the blender to introduce more oil to the mixture and very slowly pull the blender to the top of the mix. Plunge the blender up and down until the toum is fully emulsified and thick. (This streamlined toum recipe sacrifices fluffiness for ease by using a stick blender. If you want to make perfectly fluffy toum, prepare this recipe using a food processor.)

  3. Step 3

    Stir well and adjust the toum with more salt and lemon juice as needed. (The toum recipe makes about 1¾ cups.) Transfer to a container with a tight-fitting lid and refrigerate, if not using immediately.

  4. Step 4

    Prepare the sandwich: Divide the cheese evenly between the two slices of bread, tearing one piece in half to split it. Shingle the cornichons in one even layer on one side. Carefully close the sandwich. Evenly spread 1 tablespoon of toum on one side of the sandwich.

  5. Step 5

    In a medium nonstick skillet, place the sandwich, toum-side down. Press the sandwich firmly with a spatula to compress. Cook over medium-low until lightly golden underneath, 5 to 6 minutes.

  6. Step 6

    Spread 1 tablespoon of toum on the top side of the bread, then flip the sandwich over and press firmly. Cook until bread is lightly golden brown, 3 to 4 minutes, then flip back over. Since toum is made of mostly garlic, it burns easily. Take your time, reducing the heat to low, flipping and pressing the sandwich often to ensure that the cheese melts evenly and the bread doesn’t burn, about 3 more minutes. Lightly season both sides with salt and serve immediately, with a side of toum for dipping.

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Comments

Jacqueline

For a shortcut, if you are near a Trader Joe's they have a perfectly serviceable toum on the refrigerated section called Garlic Spread and Dip with the same ingredients.

Mark Mitchell

This, like many NYT recipes I've made verbatim, has problems. Too many times I've had to go back a second time and make significant adjustments to amounts and cooking times to get the proper result. In this case with the toum, DO NOT simply "dump the neutral oil on top." The recipe calls for far too much oil and you will get a watery result that never fully emulsifies. Drizzle the oil a little at a time until you get the proper aioli emulsification. Made this way, it's quite delightful.

Susan Ford, New Orleans (Happy Mardi Gras!)

Olive oil can get bitter when processed in a blender or food processor. I process the garlic with coarse kosher salt and a little lemon juice first, to tame the bite a bit, then alternate with vegetable oil, lemon juice, and ice water. Nice and fluffy.

Kyra

Tried this again after an epic toum fail. I used half the oil this time which helped but it still didn't really thicken up much. Was delicious though! I used tilsiter cheese as that's what I had on hand. The sandwich itself is very good, especially the addition of cornichons

Suzanne R

I grow lots of garlic and make batches of Toum every summer after garlic has cured. It’s indeed an emulsion, and as such a neutral oil is added slowly as when making mayonnaise. If you happen upon a large supply at a farmers market try making a large batch and freezing in small jars to use throughout the winter. After freezing the oil often separates to the top when thawed. Fabulous! A small drizzle onto salad greens is quick and effective and to ramp up any sauce (marinara, curry, ?). It is so handy to just scoop some in to taste.

Kyra

Made the toum as written and sadly it was just liquid and didn't thicken at all. Will try this again another day and use far less oil

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