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Metsovone substitute

Best substitute

Smoked provolone

Use the same amount as the metsovone you are replacing

Best for saganaki and pan-frying

Close match

Smoked provolone is the closest supermarket swap at 1:1, since it is the same pasta filata family and slices, fries and stretches the same way. Smoked scamorza is closer still if your deli carries it. Smoked gouda gives you the right smoke but melts soft and greasy instead of stretching, and for pan-fried saganaki, kefalograviera or kasseri plus a pinch of smoked paprika holds its shape far better.

Other metsovone substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

Substitutes for Metsovone with ratios

  1. 2Smoked scamorza

    Close match

    Use the same amount

    Italian smoked pasta filata cheese sold as a small pear-shaped or log-shaped ball.

    What changes
    Best for
    saganaki, grilling, baked vegetable dishes, pizza, sandwiches

    Essentially the Italian equivalent of metsovone, down to the shape and the smoking. It is slightly moister and milder, so it browns a shade faster in the pan and can weep a little more fat. Pat the cut faces dry before frying and it behaves almost identically.

  2. 3Smoked gouda

    Taste and texture differ

    Use the same amount for melted dishes only

    Dutch-style semi-hard cheese with pronounced smoke.

    What changes
    Best for
    sandwiches, potato gratins, baked dishes, sauces

    Right smoke, wrong melt. Gouda is not a stretched-curd cheese, so instead of pulling into strands it slumps into a soft puddle and can separate into oil if it gets too hot. It is also sweeter and less salty than metsovone. Excellent melted into something, genuinely poor for pan-fried saganaki, where it will spread across the skillet.

  3. 4Kefalograviera or kasseri, plus smoked paprika

    Different taste

    Use the same amount cheese, plus ¼ tsp smoked paprika per 4 oz (115 g)

    The standard Greek frying cheeses, with smoke approximated separately.

    What changes
    Best for
    saganaki, fried cheese, grating over pasta, baked dishes

    These are what Greek cooks actually reach for when frying cheese, so they crust beautifully and hold a slice shape better than any smoked cheese here. They are not smoked at all, though, and smoked paprika only imitates smoke on the nose rather than through the paste. Mix the paprika into the flour dusting rather than onto the cheese.

  4. 5Smoked mozzarella (mozzarella affumicata)

    Different texture

    Use the same amount patted dry

    Fresh-style pasta filata mozzarella that has been smoked.

    What changes
    Best for
    pizza, baked pasta, vegetable bakes, sandwiches

    The right family but much wetter and milder, so a slice softens and slumps rather than holding an edge, and it can release water into a baked dish and make it soupy. Pat it thoroughly dry, and use it where the cheese is being melted rather than fried or grilled on its own.

  5. 6Plain provolone with a trace of liquid smoke

    Different taste

    4 oz (115 g) cheese : 1 drop liquid smoke rubbed over the surface

    Build-your-own smoke when nothing smoked is available.

    What changes
    Best for
    saganaki, grilling, sandwiches

    The least-bad option, and the technique matters more than the ingredient. Rub a single drop over the cut surfaces rather than stirring it in, so the smoke sits where you taste it first. Liquid smoke is harsh and one-dimensional, and two drops instead of one is the difference between smoky and acrid.

What is Metsovone?

Metsovone is a firm, lightly smoked pasta filata cheese from the mountain town of Metsovo in northern Greece, made mostly from cow's milk and sold as a waxed, sausage-shaped log, and the job it does in a dish is a mild smokiness plus a stretchy, sliceable melt that holds its shape in a hot pan.

Cooking tips

  • Metsovone is a frying cheese first. Cut it about half an inch thick, dust it lightly in flour, and sear it in a dry hot pan for a minute a side; it should crust and soften but keep its edges. Any substitute has to survive that, which is exactly why pasta filata cheeses work and gouda does not.
  • Take the wax off before it goes anywhere near heat. The whole outside of a metsovone log is coated, the coating will not melt, and it tastes of nothing but paraffin if it ends up in the pan.
  • If your substitute is not smoked, add the smoke somewhere other than the cheese: smoked paprika in the flour dusting, a smoked chili flake in the finishing oil, or a few drops of smoked olive oil over the top. Trying to smoke the cheese itself at home usually just warms it into a slump.
  • A little smoked cheese goes a long way in a baked dish. Cut smoked provolone or scamorza with a mild melter, roughly one part smoked to two parts plain mozzarella or kasseri, or the whole tray ends up tasting like bacon and nothing else comes through.
  • Metsovone keeps for weeks tightly wrapped because it is firm and low in moisture, but the smoke migrates. Wrap it separately from butter, cream and eggs in the refrigerator or everything in there will taste faintly smoked within days.

Frequently asked questions

Is metsovone the same as metsovela?

No, though both come from Metsovo. Metsovone is the firm, smoked, stretched-curd cheese sold in waxed logs, and it is what recipes mean by smoked Greek cheese. Metsovela is a softer, unsmoked cheese from the same area, closer in character to a young graviera.

Can I just leave it out?

If it is one cheese among several in a bake, yes, and increase the others to make up the volume; add a pinch of smoked paprika if you want the smoke back. If it is the saganaki or the grilled slab on the plate, no, because the dish is the cheese and there is nothing left without it.

Does metsovone melt?

It softens and stretches like provolone rather than flowing like cheddar. That makes it very good on burgers, in savory pies and pan-seared, and it browns and blisters instead of pooling. If a recipe wants a smooth cheese sauce, metsovone is the wrong cheese and so are its close substitutes.

Is it a sheep's-milk cheese?

Mostly cow's milk, sometimes with a small proportion of sheep's or goat's milk blended in. That is part of why it tastes mellower and rounder than sharply salty Greek sheep cheeses like kefalotyri, and why an Italian cow's-milk cheese substitutes for it so convincingly.

What do you drink or serve with it?

Tsipouro is the traditional Metsovo pairing, and the combination of smoke and grape-brandy bite is the point. On a plate it wants something sweet or acidic alongside: quince paste, roasted peppers, tomato, or a spoon of honey with cracked pepper.

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