Queso de bola substitutes

Not a substitute so much as the same cheese under its Dutch name. Queso de bola is Edam, usually an older and firmer wheel than the young Edam sold in Europe, which is why it grates into dry shreds instead of smearing. Anywhere you see it labelled Edam, Edam ball or Dutch ball cheese, buy it.

Best for

ensaymada, queso de bola cheesecake, pandesal, cheese platters, any recipe at all

Prep

Peel off the red wax, then grate on the fine side of a box grater for ensaymada and cheesecake, or slice thin for a cheese platter.

A younger Edam is milder and softer than the aged balls sold for Christmas in the Philippines. If yours grates soft and tastes gentle, use a slightly heavier hand and add a pinch of salt to the dish.

Gouda and Edam come from the same Dutch tradition and do the same job on a plate: firm sliceable body, gentle nuttiness, enough salt to season what it sits on. Young Gouda is the best answer when Edam is nowhere to be found.

Best for

grating over ensaymada, cheesecake, toasted sandwiches, cheese platters

Prep

Chill it hard for 20 minutes before grating; young Gouda is softer than queso de bola and gums up a warm grater.

Noticeably sweeter and creamier, with less of the salty tang that makes queso de bola pop against sweet bread. A pinch of salt in the topping closes most of the gap. Avoid heavily aged or smoked Gouda, which turns caramel-sweet and overwhelms a delicate ensaymada.

The realistic supermarket answer. Cheddar carries the same firm grate and roughly the same salt level, which is the part that actually matters when the cheese is going onto sweet bread or into a cheesecake batter.

Best for

ensaymada, cheese bread, cheesecake, grating over rice or pasta

Prep

Grate straight from the fridge and keep it in the fridge until the moment it goes on, so the shreds stay separate.

Cheddar is more acidic and more buttery, so the topping reads tangy rather than nutty, and orange cheddar will tint an ensaymada faintly orange. Use white cheddar if you care about the colour. Skip sharp and extra-sharp, which bulldoze everything else in the recipe.

Firm, salty and genuinely nutty, which is the flavour note aged queso de bola has and mild cheeses do not. Better than cheddar if you want the savoury edge rather than the tang.

Best for

cheese platters, grating over sweet bread, savoury baking

Prep

Trim the rind, then grate or shave. Semi-cured (semicurado) grates like queso de bola; a very old Manchego will crumble.

It is sheep's milk, so there is a distinct lanoline sweetness underneath that a Filipino palate will read as not quite right, and it is drier so it does not soften as pleasantly under heat.

Use this as a salt-and-savour hit rather than a like-for-like swap. Parmesan does the seasoning job of queso de bola on ensaymada extremely well, but it is far more concentrated, so a straight swap oversalts.

Best for

grating over sweet bread, finishing pasta or rice, cheesecake crust

Prep

Grate finely and mix half-and-half with a mild cheese like Monterey Jack if you want to keep the volume up.

Use roughly half the weight and add no other salt. The taste is sharper, drier and more crystalline, and it will not give you the soft melting patches on top of a warm ensaymada.

Honest assessment: this is the least-bad option, not a good one. Jack has the right firm-slice body and grates cleanly, but it is very mild and low in salt, so it mostly contributes soft cheesiness rather than the salty punch queso de bola is bought for.

Best for

cheese bread, melting, when it is the only firm cheese in the house

Prep

Grate cold and use immediately; it goes greasy quickly once warm.

Expect a dish that tastes like it is missing something, because it is. Salt the topping directly, about 1/8 teaspoon per cup of grated cheese, and it becomes acceptable. It also melts far more than queso de bola, so a grated topping will flow instead of holding its shreds.