The Battle of Cornbeef Who's Your Bias?

The previous week when we craved spaghetti I noticed that there was something missing from my stockpile of items bought in the local grocer. It was no other than corned beef, so I decided to walk to the nearest sari-sari store in our place 20 mins walk and were able to secure one, and o boy! It was one of the bad decisions that I did aside from not checking where I should transfer my funds when I am a newbie here.

Because of that I decided to create a small list of brands that I know of and categorize them into tiers. This post is just for pun and if you find it offensive because your brand didn't make it to the top then I do not care about your feelings it is my opinion. ( Kidding )

Let the corned beef battle begins!

Let's start with Delimondo, I am placing it on A Tier it should be an S Tier if I didn't see my bias brand but this round it is on A. Compared to the other brands listed, it is the most pricey, a 100g would cost around 100 PHP or $2.00. The stock isn't that enormous as well. Here in San Pablo when I checked the supermarkets I DID NOT SEE ONE! Each time that I will be checking the corned beef section in Ultimart, Shoppers Mart, Super8, etc. they do not have one available. This is also the brand that we are eating back then when we are in Biñan thus it is sad when we cannot buy it here.

Fun fact there's a conspiracy theory that the reason why Delimondo brand is quite costly is due to some of its earnings are going to Juan Ponce Enrile's fountain of youth. So the more we buy, the more we extend his lifespan. ( Only Filipinos can relate to this joke)

Jumping into Lucky 7, whoever gives the name Lucky 7 I do not agree with the name. Are we going to get lucky with the taste too? It is like a gacha system where the taste will depend on how lucky you are? Because if that is the case have terrible luck. This is the corned beef brand that I bought in the local store nearby. I thought it was a good brand because when I was buying the other day prior to the spaghetti cravings my neighbor also bought one. Tastewise it should be in the F tier but since the price isn't that high I will just put it in E.

Purefoods Corned Beef is on C Tier, Back when we are young, we can only taste it during the Christmas season as it is the one included in the company's Christmas basket of my elder siblings. The taste is pretty decent and the strips are fine and easily chewed. But for its price, I can buy 1 delimondo corned beef already as their price is almost the same. They have other variants such as Chunkee corned beef which I prefer due to chunks of corned beef but taste-wise it is also bland.

Swift Corned Beef Premium is on the B tier, the cost per can is cheap but the taste is okay. There's no notable distinction as usually we just include the corned beef in our spaghetti.

Highlands Corned Beef - is the name advised it should be made premium because of the word "highlands". It was advertised too as good tasting so when I had the chance to buy one I bought one and the taste is so-so. For the price around 50+ - 60+, I would expect more to it. It isn't flavorful and the strips are kinda rough plus it has a smell that I do not appreciate. The packaging said it is made from Angus Beef, but from my memory, Angus beef isn't that smelly. So maybe it is just us? I do not know so I am placing it also in the C tier.

CDO Karne Norte - this helped me a lot when I was still studying back then the price of 100g was just around 15PHP or a quarter of a dollar. I am not that of a picky eater before. It is just now that I become one as I am somehow able to buy what I craved for so this is on the B tier.

Since Delimondo will not be back to our grocery bag anymore unless the management of supermarkets in San Pablo will notice my post we tried multiple brands and variants and found a good replacement which is CDO Home Style Corned Beef. It is flavorful and the meat is vibrant thanks to food coloring and it is also approved by our daughter. Price-wise, it is relatively cheap if my memory serves me right it cost around a dollar only. Thus I am also placing it on A Tier.

Last and definitely not the least is the OG of all corned beef that I had tasted which is RODEO. If you are a 90s kid for sure you are well familiar with this brand and variant. I am placing it on the S tier because it is a legendary item and it is not available anymore in the market. One of my favorite dishes on this corned beef is corned beef soup. You just need to saute it on garlic and onion add potatoes as extenders and then the corned beef. Once it is cooked add cups of water. It is my favorite food back then as the soup itself can be used to become a flavor to the rice. We are a family of 8 so 1 small can fill the belly of everyone. Each time that it is the viand, we are required to eat together as a family because all of us wants it and if one is left behind there will be no stock available for him/her.