On corned beef

SMQ and I spent some time today discussing our personal preferences on how we like our corned beef prepared. And no, we're not talking about the boiled stuff you eat with mustard and cabbage. We're talking about the canned stuff. Yes, canned corned beef.

I realize that to most people (i.e., non Filipinos) corned beef is generally prepared from scratch. In the Philippines, when you say "corned beef", you mean the canned stuff.

Now there are several kids of canned corned beef. There's the "chunky" kind, the "stringy" kind and the "mushy" kind. Purefoods makes both chunky and stringy, but they are famous for their stringy kind. I'd like to think that purists such as myself prefer the stringy kind. "Imported" corned beef (Libby's, Palm, etc) is mushy. Chinese corned beef is mushy too. And visibly contains a lot of fat. I am not a fan (but not because of the fat content, but because it's not as salty as the local stuff).

There are various ways of preparing corned beef, although these recipes generally fall under two categories: dry and wet. Wet requires the addition of some water. Dry can mean almost crispy, though again, I'd like to think purists enjoy their corned beef somewhere in the middle -- sauteed with some cooking oil (with garlic, onions and tomatos), but with no additional water.

SMQ likes her corned beef sauteed with potatoes. A very American approach if you ask me.