Sao Jorge Cheese substitute

Best substitute

Aged Gouda (Two Years or More)

Use the same amount as the sao jorge cheese you are replacing

Best for cheese boards

Close match

Aged Gouda, at least two years old, is the closest single swap and works one for one. Manchego curado is nearly as good and easier to find. A sharp aged Cheddar covers the piquancy if you are melting it, and Gruyere covers the nutty savouriness. The job Sao Jorge does is salt plus concentrated umami plus a sharp finish, in a cheese firm enough to grate and fatty enough to melt, so pick your substitute based on which of those the recipe is actually using.

Other sao jorge cheese substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

2Manchego Curado (Six to Twelve Months)
Close match
Use the same amount
Firm Spanish sheep's milk cheese with a comparable density, saltiness and slicing texture, and available in most supermarket cheese cases.
What changes
Best for
cheese boards, slicing, tapas plates, salads, grating
The most available good option. Firmness and salt level land almost exactly where Sao Jorge does. Sheep's milk makes it tangier and sweeter in a lanolin sort of way, and less buttery, so a plate of it reads Spanish rather than Azorean. It also melts less smoothly, so prefer Gouda or Gruyere if you are making a sauce.
3Sharp Aged Cheddar
Different taste
Use the same amount
A well-aged English, Irish or Vermont Cheddar, which brings the sharp, mouth-filling piquancy that is the defining note of a mature Sao Jorge.
What changes
Best for
grilled cheese, gratins and bakes, cheese sauces, grating over soup, sandwiches
This is the sharpness match rather than the flavour match. Cheddar is more acidic and more lactic, so the result tastes tangier and less nutty, and it breaks into oil more readily under high heat than Sao Jorge does. Buy something labelled sharp or extra sharp and aged at least a year; mild Cheddar has none of the right character.
4Gruyere or Comte
Close match
Use the same amount
Alpine cow's milk cheeses matured to the point where they taste savoury, brothy and nutty, and which melt into a smooth, glossy sauce.
What changes
Best for
melting, cheese sauces, gratins, toasted sandwiches, soup toppings, quiche
The best choice specifically when Sao Jorge is being melted, because Gruyere melts more reliably than almost anything on this list. It is sweeter and rounder and lacks the sharp bite at the end, so a Sao Jorge melt made with Gruyere tastes noticeably gentler. A tablespoon of grated Parmesan per cup restores the edge.
5Aged Provolone (Provolone Piccante)
Different texture
Use the same amount
The sharp, matured version of provolone, which shares Sao Jorge's piquant finish and firm sliceable body.
What changes
Best for
sandwiches, slicing for boards, baked pasta, melting
Genuinely close on that sharp finish, which is the hardest quality to replace. It is tangier and more lactic than Sao Jorge and slightly rubberier when sliced. Make sure you buy piccante and not the mild dolce version, which is bland and stretchy and tastes nothing like it.
6Parmesan or Pecorino Romano
Taste and texture differ
Use about ¾ as much
Very hard, very salty grating cheeses that deliver concentrated savoury depth in a smaller amount.
What changes
Best for
grating over soups and greens, finishing pasta, adding depth to a bake
Fine for grating, wrong for anything else. Both are saltier and drier than Sao Jorge, hence the smaller amount, and neither will slice for a cheese board or melt into a smooth sauce. Pecorino is the sharper of the two and closer to Sao Jorge's bite; Parmesan is nuttier and better behaved in cooking.

What is Sao Jorge Cheese?

Sao Jorge Cheese is a firm, pressed cow's milk cheese made in large wheels on the Azorean island of Sao Jorge and sold as queijo Sao Jorge, matured from three months to two years until it is dense, crystalline and sharply piquant, so in a recipe it is supplying salt, concentrated savoury depth and a sharp finish in a cheese firm enough to grate and fatty enough to melt.

Cooking tips

Age is what you are actually buying. A three-month Sao Jorge is mild and springy and a twelve-month one is sharp and crystalline, so if a recipe or a memory of the cheese is about that piquant bite, ask for the older wheel and expect to substitute an equally well-aged cheese.
Grate it straight from the fridge, then let the grated cheese sit out for twenty minutes before it goes into a dish. Cold cheese grates cleanly instead of smearing, but cold cheese also tastes of much less, so let it warm before serving or before melting.
It is a high-fat cheese and it can break when melted hard. Toss the shredded cheese with a teaspoon of cornstarch per cup before stirring it into a hot sauce, keep the heat low, and add it off the boil for a smooth result.
The classic Azorean way to eat it is in rough chunks broken off with a knife rather than neat slices, with bread, olives and a glass of wine, and it is also melted over massa sovada, the sweet Portuguese bread, where the salt against the sweetness is the whole idea.
Save the rind. Simmered in a pot of beans, kale soup or caldo verde it gives up a remarkable amount of savoury depth over half an hour, then fish it out before serving.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best substitute for Sao Jorge cheese?

Aged Gouda of two years or more is the closest, because it matches both the dense crystalline texture and the concentrated savoury depth. It is sweeter and less sharp, so blending in a little Parmesan restores the bite. Manchego curado is the runner-up and much easier to find. If the cheese is going to be melted, use Gruyere instead, since it melts more smoothly than either. All three substitute one for one by weight.

What does Sao Jorge cheese taste like?

Dense, buttery and deeply savoury with a sharp, slightly peppery finish that builds the longer the cheese has aged, and a faint saline quality that people often attribute to the island pastures. Well-aged wheels have small crunchy crystals through the paste, like a good aged Gouda or Parmesan. Younger ones are much milder and more elastic, closer to a plain firm cow's milk cheese. If a recipe or a family memory involves the sharpness, that is the older cheese being described.

Can I use Cheddar instead of Sao Jorge?

Yes, if it is a properly sharp aged Cheddar, and especially if you are melting it into a bake, sauce or grilled sandwich. Cheddar gets the sharp bite right, which is the note most people miss. It tastes more acidic and lactic and less nutty than Sao Jorge, and it separates into oil more easily when it gets too hot. Mild Cheddar is not a substitute at all: it has none of the depth or piquancy and will just make the dish taste creamy.

Can I just leave it out?

If it is a topping or a finishing cheese, yes, though the dish loses its salt and savoury lift, so add a pinch more salt and consider a squeeze of lemon to keep the dish from tasting flat. If Sao Jorge is the point, as in cheese and bread with wine or a Sao Jorge omelette, leaving it out means not making the dish. In cooked applications like caldo verde or a bean stew, where it is doing background depth, a Parmesan rind or a spoonful of grated hard cheese covers most of what you are missing.

Is Sao Jorge the same as other Portuguese cheeses?

No, and the difference matters when you substitute. Sao Jorge is a firm, pressed, aged cow's milk cheese, the workhorse hard cheese of Portuguese and Azorean-American kitchens. Serra da Estrela and Azeitao are the opposite: soft young sheep's milk cheeses set with thistle, so soft you eat them with a spoon. If your recipe calls for a spoonable Portuguese cheese, aged Gouda is completely wrong for it, and you want a ripe sheep's milk or bloomy rind cheese instead.

Related substitutes

More cheese substitutes

Sao Jorge Cheese substitute

Other sao jorge cheese substitutes

2Manchego Curado (Six to Twelve Months)

3Sharp Aged Cheddar

4Gruyere or Comte

5Aged Provolone (Provolone Piccante)

6Parmesan or Pecorino Romano