Overwhelmed by cheese

I'm not sure that's the right way to go about this. There are tons and tons of types of cheeses. I'm not sure you'll find a good list of all substitutes because it will be too big to put together.

Instead, I think you need to learn about the types of cheese so that you can make an informed decision. Is a cheese blue, sharp, creamy, hard, soft? How does it melt? What part of the world is it from? Those questions will allow you to find a cheese that is similar enough to make a good substitution.

For instance, if a recipe called for Pecorino a hard Italian cheese, Parmesan (another hard Italian cheese) would make a much better substitute than goat cheese or cheddar.

So see what cheeses are available at your local store. Write down the whole list (and preferably buy some of each). Get home and do a little bit of research on each one. Where is it from? How do people describe it? Take some notes on all of this. Then, when you see a new cheese in a recipe, look it up and see how it's described. Then find a cheese from a similar area with similar characteristics, and you should be good to go.

Edit: While I stand by my approach as a great way to go about this, I did find a good resource. Cook's Thesaurus has a great list of cheeses, including substitutes, broken down by type of cheese, type of milk, hardness, etc.

Umm. next time you're at the store go to the cheese counter and talk to the person behind the counter. Way easier than using a guide, and chances are you'll get free samples which is always a good thing.

Get yourself a copy of the Cheese Primer:

It was written by Steven Jenkins, the cheese buyer over at Fairway, a grocery store in New York that has an absolutely insane cheese department. It has chapters on each of the different categories of cheese along with detailed listings of the most commonly available kinds in each category. There are also sections on storing cheese, cutting cheese, and if I remember correctly, even a diatribe against the "parmesan" "cheese" that comes in a green cylinder.

The secret is to taste. With cheese, with wine, with beer, with barbeque sauce, you've got to taste it. I wander through the store, and I get excited when I see something I haven't had before. That's how you learn foods. Get out there and try different things. Work your way through your local cheese counter, buying every kind of cheese they have. Never let the old woman with the plateful of samples pass by unmolested. Eat some raw. Melt some over toast. Mix some with your eggs. Look online, and find recipes that feature that cheese. Make fondue out of it, and raid your fridge, and dip some of everything you find into the fondue, and taste, and ponder.

In a short time, you'll get a good working knowledge of cheese. In a longer time, you'll get a sense, a feel for cheese. After that, if you've a passion for it, you'll start seeking rarities, and you'll find yourself standing there with a quarter wheel in your hand, sniffing it, and building a whole meal around it in your head.

There is really no way to know without tasting it.