My love affair with corned beef
I won’t lie. I am no hypocrite. For all my vegetable-loving, healthy-living, fresh-produce-eating, home-cooking advocacies and habits, I still really love corned beef. I don’t keep a stock of cans at home or the risk of eating it regularly is just much too high.
“Oatmeal or crispy corned beef?” I just don’t trust myself enough with those options, because especially when it’s crisped up and served with a fried egg and garlic rice, it’s just really hard to resist.
Every so often the craving is persistent and I will go out of my way to buy a can. When I do, it’s almost always Delimondo. Maybe I’m just a sucker for packaging but the sleek and simple, borderline plain packaging appeals to me. No fuss, no frills and all about quality, like the product. It’s 100-percent-pure beef marinated in Delimondo’s own secret seasonings. I love that it started out mainly for personal consumption and then slowly but surely grew into a niche brand of its own.
“We really just started making it for our family,” shares JAKA president and CEO Katrina Ponce-Enrile, who also happens to be a major foodie. “It had no label and we would just give a few cans out to close family and friends as Christmas gifts. Then people started calling us and asking us where they could buy it.”
Who knew a can of quality corned beef could have so much rapid success? At one point a can of Delimondo corned beef was being auctioned off on eBay for US$200! Delimondo is so in demand even in the US that they are currently looking at producing there as well.
From corned beef to bacalao to Iberian chicken marinade, their family’s love for tasty, good food has expanded the brand’s product range.
“We taste-test everything till it’s perfect. Look, you can tell we’ve been taste-testing!” she jokes.
The newly opened store is meant for people to come and browse their full product range, including their specialty sausages. They are also looking to do products that are for the more health-conscious, such as salad dressings. Their menu is currently small but tasty, revolving around playful spins on comfort food favorites like Kimchi Fried Rice with their spicy luncheon meat, Spicy Tinapa Fried Rice or their Kaldereta Corned Beef Lasagna. I jokingly said this would be a great place to come when you’ve got a hangover! And indulge in all those salty, savory dishes.
The most surprising thing, however, is that they have some great desserts. While there is already quite a big fan base for their Ube Cheesecake, personally I love their San Marco cake. This super-light and fluffy chiffon cake layered with whipped cream and topped with caramelized yema — it’s absolutely delicious. Not too sweet and not too heavy, I want to throw a dinner party just so that I can order it.
At the end of our little press lunch, we were all discussing desserts and Ponce-Enrile exclaimed, “Oh! We also have a great chocolate cake!” My Achilles heel. If there’s anything in the world you can bribe me with, sway my mind and make me forget my name, it’s a good chocolate cake.
They brought out this decadent-looking giant slice and plopped it in front of me. Absolute heaven and, no joke, probably my favorite chocolate cake in town. It was rich in flavor, not too sweet and seemingly dense but then suddenly melts almost mousse-like in the mouth. I kept politely serving myself small slices. Hoping no one would notice. Like a little mouse, bit by little bit I surreptitiously wiped out that giant slice by myself. I thought no one noticed but they did because I turned my head for a second and another guest had magically plopped down another giant slice in front of me!
While I’m still not going to make a regular habit of corned beef for breakfast (no matter how yummy!) it’s definitely worth stopping by the Delimondo store. Their chili oil is a great product that even health buffs would approve of and I promise you, no health buff can resist even just a bite or two of that fluffy San Marco and that crazy-good chocolate cake. I couldn’t and it was worth every indulgent bite.
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The Delimondo Store is located at JAKA Center, Urban Avenue Corner Chino Roces Avenue, Makati. They’re open Monday to Friday from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturdays from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Like www.facebook.com/delimondo or follow IG @delimondo.
