Serra da Estrela cheese substitutes

Spanish raw sheep's milk cheeses coagulated with cardoon thistle and matured young, so the interior collapses into a spoonable paste under a firm rind exactly as Serra da Estrela does.

Best for

spooning onto bread, cheese boards, serving with honey and walnuts, warm as a dip

Not really a substitute so much as the same cheese made on the other side of the border. It carries the identical faint bitterness that thistle rennet produces, the same lanolin sweetness from the sheep's milk, and the same runny paste. The only difficulty is that it is nearly as hard to buy as the original. Torta del Casar tends to be a little saltier.

A soft washed or bloomy rind cheese, left out of the fridge for at least an hour so the paste slumps, giving you the same spoon-it-onto-bread experience from a supermarket.

Best for

cheese boards, spreading on rustic bread, warm baked cheese, serving with quince paste

The texture is the match here, not the flavour. Cow's milk makes it distinctly mushroomy, buttery and barnyardy where Serra da Estrela is sweet, grassy and mineral, and there is no thistle bitterness at all. A drizzle of honey and a few drops of good olive oil close a surprising amount of that gap. Buy the ripest one in the case and let it sit out.

Two other Portuguese thistle-set sheep's milk cheeses, made in smaller wheels near Lisbon and in the Alentejo respectively.

Best for

everything Serra da Estrela is used for, cheese boards, bread and cheese, Portuguese menus

Effectively interchangeable, which is why Portuguese recipes often list them together. Azeitao comes in small pucks and is usually a touch saltier and more pungent; Nisa is firmer and a little more acidic. Both are available from Portuguese and Brazilian grocers in North America far more often than Serra da Estrela is.

Small-format soft cheeses made from sheep's milk, or from mixed sheep and cow's milk, which get the milk right even when the technique differs.

Best for

cheese boards, spreading, warm on toast, serving with cured meats

These nail the sweet, faintly woolly sheep's milk flavour that Brie cannot, which is arguably the more important half of Serra da Estrela. They are milder and less savoury than the real thing and lack its slightly bitter finish, so add a pinch of flaky salt and serve with something assertive alongside, such as olives or a slice of jamon.

Fresh goat cheese or sheep's milk ricotta beaten with cream until it is smooth and spoonable, seasoned with salt and olive oil.

Best for

cooking, filling pastries, stirring into warm dishes, spreading when no aged cheese is available

Use this only when the cheese is going into something rather than onto a board. You get the spoonable consistency and, with sheep ricotta, the right milk, but no rind aroma, no aged depth and none of the savoury bitterness. It tastes noticeably fresher, more acidic and simpler. Add a little salt, because both are much less salty than a matured cheese.

Firm sheep's milk cheeses to use when your recipe calls for Serra da Estrela Velho, the aged version, which is dry and hard rather than spoonable.

Best for

grating, slicing for boards, melting into soups, cooked dishes

Worth knowing that Serra da Estrela exists in two forms. If the recipe says velho or amanteigado matters to it, check which one it means, because using a hard grating cheese in place of a spoonable one, or the reverse, is the mistake that actually ruins a dish. Manchego curado is the best all-round match for the aged version; Pecorino is saltier and sharper, so use about three quarters as much.