Well, we don’t exactly have the secret White Spot Triple-O sauce recipe - but there are many theories about what makes that absolutely legendary taste. We’ve scoured the Internet, talked with theorists, and got information from informants and believe we have some good theories of what it is made of.
In case you don’t know what we’re talking about, White Spot is a line of restaurants on the west coast of Canada and makes some of the best burgers in in the region. Their signature “Triple-O” sauce and toasted buns is what distinguishes itself from the run-of-the-mill burger you get elsewhere.
It’s been speculated (not confirmed) that the sauce was actually developed at the University of British Columbia’s Food Sciences lab and was commissioned by White Spot.
These days, if you ask for extra Triple-O sauce (yes! you can!) at White Spot, you’ll notice that you get little cup that has a white sauce and a red sauce on top. Let’s get right down to the theories. Let’s talk about the white sauce first and then the red sauce.
Theories for the white sauce:
- Mayo (Homemade, traditional style)
- Mayo with Honey and some paprika
- Sweet Mayo with cayenne pepper
- Mayo with some onion powder and cayenne pepper
- Mayo with melted butter
- Mayo with Orange Juice -hence Triple O? (probably not since Triple O meant triple the sauce)
Theories for the red sauce:
It seems like most people are in agreement that the red sauce is nothing other than:
Red Relish (also known as Hamburger relish) - eg. Bicks brand
So there you have it - the maybe-secret-recipe to the White Spot Triple-O Sauce. We’ll be trying some of these theories out ourselves at the next BBQ and will be reporting back to you soon. Please leave us a comment if you have other theories or insights!
Review: Triple-O at White Spot
Review: White Spot Brunch
Review: Mother’s Day at Trafalgar’s Bistro
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July 31st, 2007 at 7:26 am
I know someone who’s mom’s old boss developed this secret triple-o sauce…
July 31st, 2007 at 9:08 am
I love the triple-O sauce. When I am feeling especially indulgent, I order extra triple-O on the side to dip my fries in.
July 31st, 2007 at 8:30 pm
Whoa that burger looks so good. Just reading it makes me hungry haha…. No wonder it’s your favorite place for burgers
It’s still on my list of things to try out!
August 1st, 2007 at 11:38 am
There’s a Triple-O (fast-food version of White Spot) in Hong Kong!
http://www.tripleo.com.hk/location.php
Weird! There are 3 locations in Hong Kong. All the other Triple-O restaurants are in Western Canada:
Vancouver
Victoria
Hope
Courtenay
Merritt
Kelowna
Kamloops
Cranbook
Calgary
August 12th, 2007 at 6:39 pm
I’ve experimented with trying to create triple-o sauce at home with a number of the above theories. IMO, closest I have gotten to the real thing is 5 parts mayo, 1 part honey and a dash of paprika for color. Red Relish does the red part bang on.
August 12th, 2007 at 11:06 pm
Hi Derek,
Thanks for the recipe…I will definitely need to give this a try the next time I am having burgers at home. Yum…I’m getting hungry just thinking about it!
August 21st, 2007 at 9:58 pm
[...] all the talk about White Spot a couple of weeks ago in Ho Yummy, Jenkins and I decided it was time to have some Triple-O sauce so [...]
August 25th, 2007 at 12:24 pm
After being in the White Spot Drive Inn in the 70`s I have tried to copy this legendary taste.
It was pure luck when i met a girl at Peter`s Ice Cream Parlour right beside the Drive Inn and she told me the secret.
You all are close to it.
Triple “O” means triple “Original”.
Mayonaise is part of the burger but not of the sauce.
Cheeseburgers in Paradies,Ohau,Hawaii is very close to it.
August 27th, 2007 at 8:38 pm
Hi Petersburger,
Thanks for your hints! I guess we will have to keep on trying to figure out what’s in the sauce.
August 29th, 2007 at 10:12 pm
Hello, I worked at the Granville &67th whitespot from 1964 to 66 in the kitchen turning out those legendary burgers, I asked many times but was never able to even come close to finding out what’s in it, I heard that Nat and his wife developed it in thier Kitchen…
September 25th, 2007 at 10:11 am
A friend who worked at White Spot told me that 2 of the ingredients are mayonnaise and chili sauce. If you put these 2 on your hamburger tastes very close to me.
September 25th, 2007 at 10:43 pm
Wow, thanks for everyone’s comments on the triple-O sauce so far! I’m embarrassed to say I still haven’t tried any of your secret sauce speculations but will need to the next time I make a burger at home.
Keep them coming!
December 14th, 2007 at 8:32 pm
There must be one person out there that worked in the White Spot commissary and made their famous mayonnaise. It’s time for the recipe to be given to all of us who love the White Spot mayonnaise but don’t live in Vancouver.
March 29th, 2008 at 5:02 pm
“Triple O” originally meant extra onions (three rings, or “O’s”)
The sauce was invented by Nat Bailley himself, and is a highly regarded secret.
The closest I have come is homemade mayo (or aeoli?) with garlic, salt, lemon juice, and a touch of dill or tarrogon and paprika.
Still trying………..
April 27th, 2008 at 8:57 am
[...] that it’s nothing more than some combination of ketchup, mayonnaise and red relish. Even so, rumours abound as to what makes the Triple-O the signature sauce of some of the best burgers in [...]
May 24th, 2008 at 10:14 am
[...] up that it’s nothing more than some combination of ketchup, mayonnaise and red relish. Even so, rumours abound as to what makes the Triple-O the signature sauce of some of the best burgers in [...]
July 27th, 2008 at 5:11 am
[...] bun, and fresh toppings that included lettuce, tomatoes, and cheddar cheese. I also found the famed Triple O sauce to be a nice touch. The fries were pretty good, too. I’ve heard grumblings that Triple O [...]
August 24th, 2008 at 5:44 pm
Guess what? It is not a sauce. It is two, separate applications of basic condiments: mayonnaise and red relish. That’s all nothing more, except some hot pepper in the relish.
And guess what else? It’s hardly ever the same, from outlet to outlet, or even in the same outlet on different days. I investigated, at three outlets, on a trip to Vancouver, last week.
Most of it is mayonnaise. The “Triple-O” thing is just marketing tripe.
I first ate at the White Spot in about 1950. I knew Mr. and Mrs. Bailey, meeting them often at the 67th and Granville original location.
The food was better, the wait staff was INFINITELY better, and the sauce was CONSISTENT.
The fries were different, and so were the buns. The fried were like English fish’n chip fries — sort of limp, but of high quality. The buns had grease on the outside, possibly imitating (I believe) American Howard Johnson buns of the same era.
Again, the sauce is no more than this:
- mayonnaise
- red hamburger relish (probably Bicks), with a little cayenne pepper (or something similar) to give it a bit of zip
There is no need to sweeten the mayonnaise, because the relish, alone, is plenty sweet enough.
There you have it. The Triple-’o’ sauce is not a sauce, and the Baileys never made all this advertising FUSS about it.
It was a better restaurant in the 50’s, before it was sold to General Foods, in the ’60’s, and then to God-knows -who-else ever after.
Still a decent place to eat, but erratic, in my opinion, both in service and food quality. Our wait person in Marpole was quite unfriendly.
Easy to make better burgers at home.
November 18th, 2008 at 1:12 pm
I was told it is one jar of mustard pickles mixed with a jar of chilli sauce and blended, till little bit chunky
November 19th, 2008 at 5:57 pm
I used to live in Hong Kong where there were a couple of Triple O’s restaurants.
But upon moving to Ontario, we were really sad that there weren’t any here….
… they’re all in Vancouver!
Nevertheless, it’ll always be my all-time favourite fast food restaurant.
November 30th, 2008 at 11:34 pm
Perhaps it’s time for someone to move the White Spot franchise out east to Ontario… :p
December 24th, 2008 at 10:49 pm
I worked in the Kitchen of the White Spot at the Gladstone & Kingsway Location in 1952. The sauce for the Hamburgers was made by the commisary and was a well kept secret. I had heard while working there, that one ingredient was pickle juice.
The hambuger buns were also made by White Spot
They had a Taste of their own!
January 24th, 2009 at 12:53 am
Back in the 50’s, my mother used to be a carhop at a Whitespot restaurant. On the pad of paper that the servers would write the orders on, there were a list three sauces printed on the order slip. Ketchup (or chili sauce), Mayo, and Relish. Of course these three sauces made a great combo and therefore almost everyone ordered all three. The sauces were abreviated on the order slips and were aligned in a row and the servers circled the sauces that were ordered. Like this: O O O
When the cooks called out the order they just said “burger with triple O”. Eventually (to save time I guess) they just simplified things and made the sauce combo standard. Hence, Triple O sauce.
February 2nd, 2009 at 1:26 pm
most of what is said above about what the O in triple O stand for are wrong.
July 1st, 2009 at 12:44 pm
Try adding bicks chilli sauce to the red relish.
You will find that is the actual relish recipe.