I’ve read online that the famous Bay Area Orange Sauce from La Victoria in San Jose actually originated in Mexico from a pizza franchise called Lupillo’s called Chimichurri sauce which is a 40 year old recipe made with chiles de árbol, garlic, emulsified oil….has anybody actually confirmed this??? That Orange Sauce is famous in San Jose and Bay Area for Mexican food and the recipe remains a top secret that many of us have tried replicating and cracking the code for.
by imandohex
7 Comments
I miss La Vic’s
That’s my understanding as well. We have a local Mexican joint that has this sauce and refers to it as Chimichurri. It is also used on pizza where they’re from.
I’ve been fine tuning the below La Vics copycat recipe with ideas from other Lupillo’s copycat recipes. The recipe itself is great, but was a little different than what I was looking for.
[https://cocoaandsalt.com/la-victoria-orange-sauce/](https://cocoaandsalt.com/la-victoria-orange-sauce/)
My only changes:
– I find the apple cider vinegar overpowering, so I use white vinegar and half the amount called for
– Replace half the oil with mayo (other versions of Lupillos calls for mayo and/or eggs)
– Add a teaspoon of yellow mustard
Try it as-is or with my changes and I’m sure you can tweak it to what you’re looking for.
Pretty sure thats true. A lot of Bay Area orange sauces trace back to Lupillos or similar recipes from Jalisco. The chile de arbol oil blend thing has been passed around forever between taquerias and pizza spots.
I so badly miss the chilé rellenos burrito from La Victoria, the perfect medium for that sauce!
It used to be more orange colored, and good. It changed about 10-12 years ago, now absolute garbage and overhyped by transplants. Look up any “habanero salsa” and be amazed
I’m up in Oak now so I don’t get around to La Vic’s as much as I used to growing up there. A long time ago I started weeding through the copycat recipes, maybe 10 of them, to see if i could get close. [THIS RECIPE](https://thewalshcookbook.blogspot.com/2015/02/the-orange-sauce-aka-crack-sauce-cathy.html) is the closest, nearly dead on, match. I was taste testing these with a bottle of real orange sauce to compare it to. No chorizo grease (La Vics says it’s vegan and shelf stable) and the silkiness is dead on (due to an insane amount of oil).
Here’s the copycat I’ve been tuning for a couple years. It’s close enough that I don’t miss La Vic anymore.
Bay Area Style Orange Sauce
Ingredients:
1 can Fire Roasted Tomatoes OR 2 Romas
1 yellow onion
1 cup vegetable oil
3+ cloves of garlic
2 chile guajillo (stem and seed removed)
6 or so arbol chiles, or japones (adjust amount for your preferred heat)
⅓ cup apple cider vinegar
½ cup water
1 tbsp salt
Instructions:
In a cast iron, turn heat up high and toast your chopped onion until charred on edges and softens
Toast your garlic cloves as well, they go faster so add them late.
Toast your guajillo chiles (guajillos will brighten in color first, then char. Once blackening appears on them, remove)
Toast your arboles or japones (these are smaller and drier – they cook very quickly)
Char your tomato if using fresh tomato – usually a broiler is best for this, but cast iron may work too. If not using fresh tomato, take about ⅔ a 16oz can of fire roasted tomato. Or adjust to your taste.
In a blender, add tomato, onion, garlic, all chiles, ½ cup water, salt, and cider vinegar. Blend until smooth.
Then, slowly add your oil while blending at high speed to emulsify the oil into a thicker sauce.
Blend the fuck out of it then eat it.
Play around with all these ingredient amounts to customize overtime to your liking.