What to use instead of parmigiano-reggiano
It depends entirely on what it's doing in the dish. Here's the job, what else does it, and what to skip.
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Salty savoury grating cheese finished over a dish
Long ageing leaves it loaded with free glutamates. That is why a spoonful makes a plate of pasta taste seasoned all the way through, and why a little goes further than it should.
Grana PadanoRan out
1:1
Milder and slightly sweeter with less of the crystalline crunch. Usually a third cheaper.
Pecorino RomanoRan out
3/4 the weight, and cut the salt in the dish
Much saltier and sharper with a sheep-milk tang that comes through even under tomato.
Aged Gouda or dry JackRan out
1:1
Butterscotch sweetness, and it melts more readily so it can go stringy on hot pasta.
Cashews blitzed with nutritional yeast and saltPlant-based
1 cup cashews + 1/4 cup nutritional yeast + 1 tsp salt, pulsed to crumbs, used 1:1
Closest plant version for texture scattered on top. It has no casein, so it will not melt into a sauce.
Nutritional yeast + saltPlant-based
1/4 cup yeast + 1/4 tsp salt per 1/4 cup grated
Savoury but flat, with a faint bitterness. No fat at all, so it sits on the surface as powder.
What doesn't work: The green-tin grated stuff in cacio e pepe or alfredo. It has been dried hard and cut with cellulose, so it never emulsifies. It clumps into rubbery beads and the sauce stays watery underneath.
Emulsifier and body in a pasta sauce
Its fat and protein bind with starchy pasta water into a creamy sauce. The cheese is what thickens alfredo and cacio e pepe. There is no cream in either.
Pecorino RomanoRan out
1:1
Sharper and saltier, and it breaks more easily. Pull the pan further off the heat before it goes in.
Grana PadanoRan out
1:1
Emulsifies just as well and tastes gentler, so the sauce needs a little more black pepper to carry.
Aged Asiago or PiaveRan out
1:1
Melts looser and the sauce comes out a shade stringier. Grate it finer than you would parmesan.
What doesn't work: Pre-shredded cheese from a bag. The anti-caking starch on the shreds keeps the fat and water from combining, so the sauce splits into grease and grit no matter how you stir it.
Rind simmered in a soup or ragu for depth
The dry rind releases glutamate slowly over an hour without dissolving, so it seasons the pot and comes out in one piece.
Dried porciniPlant-based
1/4 oz per rind
Earthy where the rind was milky-savoury, and it darkens the broth.
KombuPlant-based
One 4-inch piece per rind, pulled after 20 min
Cleaner and more marine. Leave it in past 20 minutes and it goes slimy and slightly bitter.
White misoPlant-based
1 tsp per rind, stirred in at the end
Adds a lot of salt along with the savouriness, so hold back on seasoning until after it goes in.
What doesn't work: A wedge of the cheese itself dropped into the pot. Without the dry rind holding it together it melts, strings, and welds to the bottom of the pan.