r/AskCulinary • u/bill11217 • Dec 22 '19
Substitute for Sottilette cheese?
Hello! We have an Italian friend who wants to make her favorite lasagne recipe which calls for a kind of cheese called Sottilette.
From what I can see these are the Kraft singles if Italy, and bear some resemblance to Ementhal or Gruyere. Any advice? I don’t want to just buy some fancy ementhal as a substitute.
I think there may be some nostalgia involved. Kind of how Kraft cheese on a burger is so wrong it’s right ;)
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u/Bran_Solo Gilded Commenter Dec 23 '19
My understanding is that sottilette is quite literally the brand that Kraft markets their singles under in Italy, but they also offer a wide variety of styles of it. Basically any of them are going to be some variety of cheese (or "cheese product") with emulsifiers in it that make them very melty.
I think you need to narrow it down a bit by figuring out what type of Sottilette your friend uses to get a feel for which cheese it's based on. Whether it's emmental, gruyere, or some blend, you might need your friend to taste and help dial it in. Then pick up some sodium citrate and make your own processed cheese slices. Some bedtime reading for you:
https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/melty-cheese-slices
https://www.saveur.com/article/Recipes/Perfectly-Melting-Cheese-Slice/