Cacciatello is a traditional Sammarinese baked custard of milk and egg, a simple home dessert in the central-Italian family of cooked creams. Plain and nursery-gentle, it is the sweet of the family table.
Spoon into cacciatello and it wobbles softly, a pale, silky baked custard scented with lemon. Bite: smooth and just-set, gently sweet and creamy, the lemon zest giving a clean lift, the texture between a flan and a baked custard. No caramel, no fuss — a plain, comforting milk-and-egg dessert, the quiet end to a Sammarinese family meal.
A gentle bain-marie surrounds the custard with even, moderate heat so the eggs set into a silky gel without curdling or weeping. Heating the milk with lemon first infuses it; straining removes zest and any threads for a smooth set. Baking just to a wobble keeps it tender, not rubbery.
Variations
With a caramel base (crème-caramel style). Flavored with vanilla. With a splash of mistrà. With coffee. As individual pots. Topped with stewed fruit.
On the Palate
Where Cacciatello sits in the Sammarinese flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 6How it's made
8 steps · 20 min active + 55 min waiting
- 114 min
Heat 700 ml milk with a strip of lemon zest until just below a simmer; cool 10 min.
- 24 min
Whisk 5 eggs with 120 g sugar until smooth but not foamy.
- 33 min
Slowly whisk the warm milk into the eggs; strain out the zest.
Watch outPour the warm milk into the eggs in a slow thread while whisking — dump it in hot and you'll scramble the eggs.
- 42 min
Pour into a baking dish or individual ramekins.
- 54 min
Set the dish in a roasting tray and pour hot water halfway up the sides (bain-marie).
Watch outThe hot water should reach halfway up the dish — this gentle water bath is what keeps the custard silky instead of curdled.
- 646 min
Bake at 160°C for 45 min until just set with a slight wobble in the center.
Watch outPull it out when the center still wobbles like set jelly; bake it firm and it turns rubbery and weeps.
- 71 min
Lift from the water bath and cool.
- 81 min
Chill and serve cool, plain or with a little fruit.
