Delimondo Corned Beef

At first I didn't pay attention to this brand of canned corned beef. No wait. Actually, I did notice it because well, it looked unusual. It looked like a generic product with a simple generic label. Actually, I thought it looked cheap. But the thing is, it wasn't cheap. In fact, this 380g can is more expensive than my usual favorite 380g can of Purefoods corned beef.

I left it alone because I was dubious about it and forgot all about it. Sometime later, I saw two of my acquaintances on Facebook post about Delimondo. I asked them if it was OK because to me it looked kind of dubious. Both of them told me, rather enthusiastically, that it was really very good and even competitive, taste-wise, to Purefoods.

Really? I thought well, OK. The next time I was at Rustan's I will try it out. Yes, unfortunately, none of our local groceries here in San Pablo carry it. I've had to wait until we had reason to to go Manila so I can pass by Rustan's so I can check this out.

I was still skeptical because Purefoods is probably the best canned corned beef I've tasted so far. And I've tasted a lot. A lot of the other local brands doesn't taste as well. They would either be a little too salty, or a little too flavorful. Or both! They are also colored rather abnormally red. I know all canned corned beef are colored, but still... the others really go over the top with it.

And I'm not just even talking about local brands. I've had imported brands as well, and the problem I have with imported canned corned beef is that they're too finely shredded. I like my corned beef to still look like very soft long shreddy beef.

The only one to come close to Purefoods before now was  Highlands corned beef, which I thought was also pretty good.

Ok so I finally got one of these Delimondo corned beef cans. They had a variety of different flavors like this Chili and Garlic as well as Ranch. I was hoping I could find one that didn't have any special flavors because I just wanted to taste the corned beef itself without any enhancements. Finding none, I settled on this Garlic and Chili flavored one.

I didn't do anything special with it. In fact, I didn't even use oil to saute the onion with. I just poured the canned meat directly on the pan and added chopped onion to that. Nothing more. I allowed it to simmer for a few minutes to reduce the liquid and that was it.

And so what did I think?

I think it was excellent! The beef was perfectly soft and shredded to my liking. And the taste was just right and not too salty and not too flavorful. Just exactly right. I loved it. And the one thing it had over Purefoods was it seemed less fatty. Usually when cooking Purefoods I would have to deal with quite a bit of fat that I have to pass the meat through a strainer to drain all the fat before I served it. No strainer required here.

Pretty safe to say Delimondo is now my favorite local canned corned beef!

I wouldn't say I would be switching completely. There is still the matter of accessibility and price. If it was available at local groceries I might buy more of it. Although I think it's expensive, I really wouldn't want them to lower their price and then lower the quality as well. I'd still buy this once in a while whenever I can afford it, but I'll still have my Purefoods from time to time.