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1
Drive a sturdy wooden or iron skewer through the knot at the neck of the caciocavallo. Suspend the cheese horizontally 15–20 cm above medium charcoal or an open flame — not higher, not lower. The heat at this distance should be felt firmly on the back of the hand held at cheese level.
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2
Arrange thick bread slices directly below the suspended cheese on the grill surface or a board. They must be in place from the first moment, as the earliest drips — the most prized — fall within the first few minutes.
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3
Turn the cheese every 3–4 minutes. This is where the dish lives or dies: if the cheese is not rotated, one face softens into a flowing melt while the opposite surface cools and hardens into a leathery skin; regular turning builds an even, continuously renewing molten outer layer on a still-solid interior. The surface should bubble and form slow, heavy drips — not char, not steam.
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4
When the surface is fully bubbling and beginning to drip freely, participants scrape the molten layer onto the bread below using the bread itself or a knife. The interior remains solid; the ritual continues — turning, dripping, scraping — until the cheese is consumed. The crust should carry a deep golden caramel colour; the smell of the melting paste should be milky, nutty, and faintly smoky, not acrid.