The difference between Tortano and Casatiello

Is it a tortano or a casatiello? If you have never made the mistake of confusing them, raise your hand. We are confident in many, which is why we decided to facilitate this long-standing issue, telling you about some important differences that distinguish these two cottages.

Equal yet different

Let’s start by saying that both are presented as salted donuts that are eaten during the Easter period, yet despite being very similar to each other, they have different elements that distinguish them and that lead us to define these dishes as two “different twins”.

The first element that catches the eye, which distinguishes them is certainly the presence of the boiled egg.

In the tortano, the hard-boiled egg is present only inside the filling while in the casatiello the hard-boiled egg besides being a fundamental ingredient present in the filling, also has a prestigious role as regards the presentation.

The hard-boiled eggs are in fact also positioned as a decoration, added to the upper part of the rustic, creating a sort of cage obtained from the intertwining of pasta.

Therefore, the first sign of recognition that distinguishes them is entrusted to the positioning of boiled eggs.

Once instead we proceed to the tasting of the two rustic, the tortano in itself in the original recipe should have as a filling only cheese, eggs, pepper and cicoli, while the casatiello in addition to all these ingredients, also has a reinforcement of sausages such as various hams and salamis. In short, the casatiello is the richest relative of the tortano.

Today, however, traditional recipes, as they often do, are revisited and fatty ingredients such as cured meats are increasingly present in tortani.

Hence probably the confusion arises between these two dishes that increasingly appear as similar.

The most good of the two? Difficult to say, because everyone has their preferences, but in both cases we are faced with real culinary excellence.