Sinton & Sons

A couple weeks ago I sent a text to my friend Daniel Sinton to see how his family trip to Italy turned out. This was his first family trip to Italy and I helped him with a couple recommendations and was excited to hear what new things he discovered. When I received a text back - "kind of busy right now" - I felt like and idiot and also pretty insensitive. He was in the midst of battling the Gifford fire on his family's ranch.

He was very busy moving cattle and helping with the logistics on his ranch to fight California's largest fire this year. What began small - as fires do - and quickly grew as we all have seen too many times his small crew was outmatched. A call from a California senator helped and soon 3000 firefighters, around 80 dozers and the planes arrived to turn things around. After twelve long days and nights they were finally able to turn the fire back, but not before thousands of acres were burned on his family's historic property.

 
Luckily lives were not lost and structures were left in tact, but there will be major repair work needed and some of his herd needed to be sold quickly with the lack of available grass. If there was ever a time to show support to Sinton and the ranches they work with here now is the time. You can visit both of their local shop locations: Sinton & Sons HERE

I was lucky to sit down with Daniel for lunch last week at Etto and he was happy to take a break for a bit and talk to me about the ranch and his new butchering facility.

Here's a picture from happier and normal times

Here's some take away from our discussion as I wanted to learn why he decided to enter the world of butchery when he recently bought the facility from J&R meats. He also took me on a tour of the facility a few days after our lunch to show me all the work he's put into it. We've discussed working together, carrying his meat at Etto and the restaurant for years and he is finally in a position to start making that happen for us. His focus on sourcing meet from folks using regenerative practices and the best local ranches is truly exciting.
 
Pasta King: Why did you decide to take over the J&R Meats facility?
 
Daniel Sinton: Number one, I saw this as an opportunity to help my friends and colleagues in the ranching community and as a way for my family's business to vertically integrate. After seventy plus years of ranching and not making any return in the cattle business I was willing to make this investment. I knew our local community needed this business to continue onward and we wanted to truly cater to the needs of my other producer friends with my family's long history in the world of cattle.
 
PK: How many local ranches and processing customers do you work with?
 
DS: We currently work with around 50 local ranchers and farms. Some folks just process one animal and other do dozens with us. We invested in a ton of upgrades to be able to service our customers in the best way possible including a huge investment in our packaging equipment. We are the only butcher in town able to offer local meat packed to these standards and our program will continue to expand.
 
PK: I was impressed to see your aging room and thanks for taking my picture in there (below). What's the aging program about?
 
DS: My grandfather always insisted on aging beef for 27 days for the best tenderization and flavor so that's what we do with all of our beef. Nearly all beef you can buy is typically aged only a few days which gives us good differentiation. The other problem is, with comercial meet that doesn't get aged when frozen the excess water in the beef freezes and this isn't good for the structural integrity of the meat.
 
PK: I was impressed with your shiny new smoker, what's the plan there?
 
DS: Our smoker will allow us to offer USDA approved smoked meat at the highest quality level. Think bacon, ham and smoked sausage with pork, and also some beef jerky. This upgrade was another big expense, but the quality and ability to offer this to our producers was worth it.
PK: I can relate to these types of expenses from building the Etto pasta factory.  
 
PK: You mentioned you will be starting a butcher box program. Tell me about that:
 
DS: We hope to launch this program in about a month under the Caldera name and are invested in providing our customers with only the highest quality local and regenerative meats and provisions in a customizable package. Because of our facility and relationships with local ranches we will have access that no one else will be able to do. We can proudly stand behind telling our customers where their meat comes from and what makes it special. As ranchers ourselves it's so important that the integrity that we put into the animals gets translated into the finished product and ultimately on the plate.
 
PK: I consider us very lucky to have someone like you to grab the torch to support the local meat industry at such a high level. I worked with J&R over the years and considered it such an important part of our community and am so happy you decided to keep going what they started. We look forward to selling your products both in our market and the restaurant as you build your business and hope for much success.