If You Don’t Have This, Use That: A Substitution Guide for Cheeses

When you are cooking with cheese you may find you don’t have the exact cheese that the recipe calls for. When this happens you certainly can substitute ingredients and still have that recipe come out just fine. There are several things you should know when you go about these substitutions. There are specific cheeses that have similar properties so in general you should keep those with the same properties as the ones you choose to substitute. Also remember this rule of thumb when substituting, ½ pound equals 2 cups. Or 1 cup shredded equals ¼ pound of product.

There are several types of this product which depend on which animal they come from. There is cow’s milk which makes up the bulk of all of them made simply because there is a greater abundance of cows around. This product is generally sweeter and cleaner in flavor. There is more fat in cow’s milk than goat and less than the sheep milk. Goat’s milk is generally tangy and often has an herbal taste. It has less fat content than from a cow. Then there is sheep’s milk which generally has a sweet nutty flavor or some people believe a more distinct flavor that has more fat content than from cow’s milk.

So the general rule when substituting cheeses is to stay with the type of milk it is made from. This means substitute sheep for sheep, goat for goat and cow for cow. Of course as with any rule of thumb you can be creative. In macaroni and cheese you generally use the flavors you like best but the taste will certainly change.

Another way to look at substitution of products is the type it is. There are several distinct types of cheeses such as fresh, semi soft, semi hard, hard and so forth. Fresh would be without a rind like ricotta. Semi-soft melts well and an example is a jack or provolone. Semi hard or firm would be cheddar or gruyere both with a similar texture. Then there is hard or the grating products like an asiago or parmesan. When a recipe calls out for cheddar then you should substitute with a similar semi hard or semi firm piece. So basically you are keeping the different types of cheeses in the recipe. So a good melting one is substituted for another similar good melting one and that way the recipe will work out fine.