---
title: 'The Most Famous Orange Sauce Isn''t Vodka'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=lRN5C_BU_Fc'
video_id: 'lRN5C_BU_Fc'
date: 2026-08-05
duration_sec: 503
---

# The Most Famous Orange Sauce Isn't Vodka

> Source: [The Most Famous Orange Sauce Isn't Vodka](https://youtube.com/watch?v=lRN5C_BU_Fc)

## Summary

This video reveals the secrets behind one of Italy's most legendary tomato sauces, which looks and feels like vodka sauce but contains no cream or vodka. The chef demonstrates how to recreate the famous Paccheri al Vettorio from Da Vittorio restaurant, using a blend of tomatoes, olive oil emulsification, and a tableside finishing technique with butter and cheese.

### Key Points

- **The Legendary Sauce** [00:01] — The sauce looks like vodka sauce but contains no vodka or cream. It is one of Italy's most legendary tomato sauces, inspired by a trip to Disneyland where Vittorio Cerea was served fettuccine Alfredo tableside.
- **The Restaurant's Legacy** [00:45] — Da Vittorio in Bergamo has three Michelin stars, and this dish is still served tableside as it was originally.
- **Tomato Blend** [01:00] — The sauce starts with San Marzano tomatoes, mixed with cherry tomatoes (ciliegini) and datterini tomatoes. Fresh tomatoes can be used in summer, but canned are fine.
- **Cooking the Tomatoes** [01:53] — Garlic and basil stems are sautéed in oil, then tomatoes are added cut-side down. The mixture is cooked for about 40 minutes until tomatoes break down.
- **Emulsification with Olive Oil** [04:22] — Instead of a food mill, the sauce is blended with 1/4 cup of olive oil, then another 1/4 cup is streamed in while blending. This creates the creamy color without cream.
- **Straining and Reheating** [05:04] — The sauce is passed through a fine mesh strainer for a velvety texture, then gently reheated on low.
- **Pasta Choice** [05:32] — Paccheri (large rigatoni) is used, and the chef prefers half paccheri. The pasta takes 18 minutes to cook, so it's cooked at a lazy boil.
- **Tableside Finishing** [06:10] — The sauce gets its silk from butter and Parmigiano Reggiano, not dairy. The pasta is finished off the heat with butter, cheese, and pasta water, using the mantecatura technique.
- **Final Garnish** [07:47] — The dish is garnished with baby basil and served immediately.

### Conclusion

This sauce achieves its creamy appearance and velvety texture through a combination of tomato blending, olive oil emulsification, and a tableside finish with butter and cheese, proving that cream is not necessary for a luxurious pasta sauce.

## Transcript

sauce to you. Same color, same cling, same shine. But there is no vodka in this. There is no cream. In fact, it is not even a vodka sauce. This is one of Italy's most legendary tomato sauces. And the story behind it
is kind of weird. Vtorio Serea who owned Da Victoriao in Burggamo got the idea on a trip to Disneyland of all places while being served a fetuccini alfredo
tableside of all things. Inspired, Victoria went back home and set out to make the Italian chef's answer to an Italian American icon. Swap the white of Alfredo with the red of a refined and incredibly velvety tomato sauce and
finish it all tableside. Fast forward to today. Dav Victoria has three Michelin stars that people from all over flock to. And this dish is still served tableside the way they used to back then. This is Pakari Alav Vtorio.
So, how does something with zero cream end up looking and feeling exactly like vodka sauce? A few things, but the first one is a blend of tomatoes. I don't know the exact blend, but it starts with San Marzano tomatoes. And you know you've
got some San Marzano tomatoes with these decals right here. And it's from the decals right here. And it's from the agro sarnese no d. And on the can says from ka. Then they mix it with cherry tomatoes or silajini and then datarini
tomatoes. Now it is summer and so fresh tomatoes are available. But since we've got them, you can use all canned tomatoes. You can use all fresh tomatoes here. We just need to slice the Roma tomatoes in half. Cut the cherry
tomatoes. We're going to smash up some garlic. And then we need a little bit of basil. And now we're going to cook all of these together. Blend them. But the next trick comes once it's all cooked. And it kind of breaks one of my tomato
sauce rules. But first, let's get this cooked. For this sauce, I've got a wide sauté pan or skillet. I'm going to get it on mediumigh heat. I'm going to coat oil. Then I'm going to toss in our smashed garlic and our basil stem and
allow that to start to brown to soften to develop color and to infuse the garlic and the basil into the fat. Once the garlic starts browning, we're going to start adding the tomatoes in cutside down. Then the cherry tomatoes. Season
with some salt. Basil stem can be removed. Now once you see those cherry tomatoes start breaking down, we can go in with our canned tomatoes. Got the cherry tomatoes. They're a lot smaller and sweeter. The datarini, these baby
Different tomatoes, different characteristics. Going to season the tomatoes with some salt. Going to cook this for about 40 minutes or so, just this for about 40 minutes or so, just until those tomatoes soften, break down,
and then we're ready to process them. Now, I don't know about you, but the three things I spend most of my money on are gas, groceries, and dining out. And as of late, they've all become annoyingly expensive. Now, while the
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get back into the recipe. It's been about 40 minutes and all we were looking for is for all those tomatoes to break down, soften up, smaller cherry tomatoes to pop. And now we can just let this cool before blending. Now, usually when
we process tomatoes, you see me use a food mill. I'm the internet's number one advocate for food mills. However, this is a little bit different. We're going we blend it, we're going to be emulsifying it with about 1/4 cup of
olive oil. And that's the first stage of creating that vibrant color without cream. It's cooled down enough for us to blend. We're going to turn on the blender and start to puree it. Slow at first. Then we're going to jack up the
heat and we're going to stream in about another 1/4 cup of olive oil. And as it blends, you're going to watch the color transform from tomato sauce into what looks like more of a creamy based vodka sauce. And now for the velvety finish,
we're going to pass it through a fine mesh strainer. Now, this we're going to get back on the stove and we're going to gently reheat
it on low. Bring it up to a gentle simmer while we have a big pot of water coming up to a boil. Now, we combine different tomatoes. We pureeed those tomatoes. We strained them through a fine mesh sie. And what we have now is
velvet. The next step is cooking our pasta, which is piri. Basically big riatoni. Almost too big, which is why I got me piri, which is like half piri.
These are quite hefty noodles and the package says these take 18 minutes to cook. So I don't want to bring my water up to a rolling boil. I like to cook things like this that take longer than normal, a little bit slower. And once
the pacer is cooked and moved into the sauce, it's finished tableside. And this is where the magic happens. So in vodka sauce where it gets its silk from dairy in this recipe, it gets our silk from butter and cheese. I've got some Italian
butter of pararma and then very fine parmyo reaniano. The way we finish sauces off the heat with butter, cheese, pasta water, all that. This is a pasta where your Monte Coutura training comes in handy. We're going to slice a whole
bunch of this butter. Keep this cold in the fridge. So, we've got our sauce get nice and hot over here. We're going to season the water really well. We want to make sure we have a lot of water. has a propensity to break. Before I add
the pocki, I want to turn it to a lazy boil. And once we drop them, I want to just keep them gently moving. After 17 minutes, we're going to fish the pasta out of the water, transfer it to the sauce, and then we're going to begin to
gently fold the pasta into the sauce. And already, it should start clinging. We're going to add a little bit of pasta water because we're going to be adding more to this. Now, we've got our butter, our cheese, and some basil. first cubes
of butter and then you just slowly start to monticato or marry the sauce and all the finishing ingredients get combined off the heat. That butter will slightly
cool it down, help prepare it for our cheese. And then we start to take our cheese, same thing. And this is where it all starts to get magical. See how the sauce is now kind of thickened? It's almost like a little jiggly coating the
almost like a little jiggly coating the noodles. Basil leaves. Work those in. until you know you're just happy with it, which I am.
Once they're stacked, we take some nice pretty baby basil. Just garnish it up.
balanced, but it's also light. It's just one of those sauces that kind of has an don't have to travel to Italy for it. be down in the description. That's all that I have today. I'll see you next
time. Until then, take care of yourself and go feed yourself.