This Memorial Day Know What You're Grilling
Josh BakerShare
Memorial Day is not just the start of summer. It is not just a long weekend or a reason to fire up the grill. It is the day we stop and honor the men and women of the Armed Forces who gave their lives so that we could live free. The Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, and Marines who never made it home. The families who waited and never saw them walk back through the door.
We are grateful every single day for their sacrifice. This weekend more than ever.
The freedom to own land, raise cattle, build a business, and feed your family the way you see fit. None of that exists without the people who fought and died to protect it. That is worth more than a long weekend. That is worth everything.
So before you light that grill this weekend, take a moment. Raise a glass. Say a name if you know one. Then cook something worthy of the day.
Know What You're Actually Grilling
I'll be honest with you. I didn't start paying close attention to the beef industry until we had kids.
Once you've got little ones eating at your table every night you start looking at things differently. You start reading labels. You start asking questions you never thought to ask before. And what I found when I started digging into the beef industry wasn't great.
The "Made in USA" Problem
Here's something most people don't know and it genuinely surprised me when I found it out.
For beef to be labeled "Made in USA" it only has to be packaged here. That's it. The cow could have been born in another country, raised its entire life in another country, and shipped here for processing. As long as it gets packaged on American soil it qualifies for that label.
I'm not making that up. That's how the rule works.
So when you're standing in the grocery store looking at a package that says "Product of USA" you have no idea where that animal actually came from or how it was raised. You're trusting a label that doesn't tell you much of anything.
On a weekend where we celebrate American freedom it feels worth knowing whether the beef on your grill is actually American.
Ground Beef Is Where It Gets Really Interesting
Have you ever noticed how grocery store ground beef feels kind of slimy when you open the package? There's a reason for that.
A single package of grocery store ground beef can contain meat from up to 20 different animals. They're combining trimmings from multiple sources, sometimes from multiple countries, and grinding it all together into one package.
That's not a small operation that knows its animals. That's a system built for volume not quality.
When we grind beef at Diamond B Ranch it comes from one animal. Single source. You know exactly what you're getting.
The First Time I Tasted a Real Steak
There was a point where I had a steak that was actually raised and handled right and the difference was hard to ignore. Better texture, better flavor, and it cooked completely differently. It didn't shrink down to half its size. It didn't sit in a pool of liquid in the pan.
That's when it clicked for me. This is what beef is supposed to taste like.
A lot of people have never had beef that wasn't from a grocery store. They think that's just what beef tastes like. It isn't.
Why We Do Things Differently
I'm not here to tell anyone how to shop. But I do think people deserve to know what they're actually buying.
Our cattle are raised on pasture. Our beef is processed at a USDA inspected facility, dry aged, and vacuum sealed. No added solutions. No mixing animals together. No mystery about where it came from.
We built this because we wanted something we felt good about feeding our own family. The same reason we think about where everything we put on our table comes from. Because that's what our family deserves. And yours does too.
This weekend honor the fallen, gather with the people you love, and grill something real. Something American.