Hard Cheeses

When it comes to grating cheese for flavoring a sauce or sprinkling as a topping for a gratin or soup, quality is important. The two outstanding cooking cheeses, Parmesan and Gruyère, are hard to match, partly because their concentrated flavors add so much depth, and partly because they are dry enough to take high temperature without forming strings (see Cheese in cooking). Both are “cooked” cheeses in that their curd is heated before being compressed and shaped. Gruyère refers to a specific cheese, but several regional versions are made in the same manner, notably Beaufort, Appenzell and Comté. Parmesan, one of a group of cheeses called grana in Italian, should come from the region around Parma, with the best stamped “Parmigiano-Reggiano” on the rind. Pecorino cheese is also a member of the grana family, and includes Pecorino Romano, which is sometimes substituted for Parmesan. Swiss, the name given to American-made Gruyère (with holes), tends to be high in fat and tastes quite different from true Gruyère. Cheddar and the other English-style hard cheeses may also be high in fat.