What to use instead of pecorino romano
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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Salt and sharpness grated into a pasta sauce
Sheep milk cheese aged eight months is aggressively salty with a bitter edge, and that is the entire seasoning of a cacio e pepe. There is no salt line in the recipe because the cheese is it.
Parmigiano ReggianoRan out
1:1 by weight, plus 1/4 tsp fine salt per 100 g
Nuttier and far less sharp. It also melts more forgivingly, so the sauce is much less likely to clump on you.
Half pecorino, half parmigianoRan out
50/50 by weight
The standard Roman hedge. Keeps the sheep tang and drops the odds of the sauce seizing into strings.
Grana PadanoRan out
1:1 by weight, plus 1/2 tsp fine salt per 100 g
Milder and sweeter again, and it costs less. The sauce tastes rounder and needs more black pepper to carry it.
Aged ManchegoRan out
1:1 by weight
Also sheep milk, so the tang lands right, but it is oilier and melts into strands rather than a smooth cream.
What doesn't work: The green shaker tin. It carries cellulose to stop caking and that powder never emulsifies with pasta water. It swells and sits in the bowl as grit.
Sharp finishing cheese grated over the plate
Off the heat the crystalline crunch and the salt hit are the point, so the texture of the grate matters as much as the flavour does.
Parmigiano ReggianoRan out
1:1 by volume
More crystal crunch and much less bite. Sweeter on the tongue, and it vanishes into a rich sauce rather than cutting through it.
Ricotta salataRan out
1 1/2 times the volume
Milky and firm rather than hard, so it shreds instead of powdering. Much less salt per gram, which is why you need more.
Aged dry Jack or aged AsiagoRan out
1:1 by volume
Buttery and nutty, browns nicely on anything hot, and it has none of the sheep funk at all.
Nutritional yeast plus fine saltPlant-based
3 tbsp yeast + 1/2 tsp salt per 1/4 cup grated pecorino
Savoury and cheesy-smelling, powdery, and it clings well to hot pasta. Turns the plate yellow and adds no crunch.
What doesn't work: Pre-shredded cheese from a bag. The anti-caking coating stops it melting cleanly, so it knots into rubbery beads the moment it hits a hot plate.
Pecorino Romano runs about twice as salty as parmigiano, so taste before you salt anything it goes into.