Memorial Day on the Ranch: How We Grill, What's Coming Next
A rancher's playbook for Memorial Day weekend — plus Season 3 of The McBee Dynasty is locked in for June 15.
Memorial Day weekend is almost here. The grill's coming out, the family's coming over, and back at the farm we've got a lot cooking — including Season 3 of The McBee Dynasty hitting Bravo on June 15. Here's how we cook on the ranch, and a little look at what's around the corner.
What Memorial Day Means Around Here
Out here, Memorial Day isn't just the unofficial start of summer or an excuse to stand around a grill with a beer in your hand. It's a day to stop and remember the people who paid the price for everything we get to do — the freedom to raise cattle on land our family's worked, to run a business our way, to gather the people we love and share a meal.
So before we get into how to cook a steak, let's say it plainly: thank you to every man and woman who served, and every family that lost somebody. We don't forget.
"If you're going to gather your people on Memorial Day, feed 'em something that means something."
The McBee Memorial Day Grilling Guide
You don't need a $3,000 grill or a culinary degree to put out a great cookout. You need good beef, a hot fire, and the patience to not poke at it every thirty seconds. Here's how we do it.
Pick the right cut for the crowd
Big group of people who want it easy? Burgers — go 80/20 ground beef and don't overwork the patties. Cooking for the steak crowd? Ribeye or New York strip every time. On a budget but want flavor? Flat iron is the most underrated cut on the cow. Got all day? Brisket. Pull it off at 203°F and let it rest in a cooler wrapped in butcher paper.
Salt early, salt heavy
Kosher salt on a steak at least an hour before it hits the grill — overnight if you've got the time. People are scared of salting too early. Don't be. The salt pulls moisture out, then the meat pulls it back in seasoned. That's how steakhouses do it. Let the meat come up to room temp before it goes on the heat.
Get the grill ripping hot
Two-zone fire if you're using charcoal — pile the coals on one side, leave the other side empty. For a thick steak (1.5"+), start it on the cool side until the internal temp hits 110°F, then move it over the hot coals to finish the sear. That's the reverse sear, and it'll change your life.
Pull early, rest longer
Pull steak off at 125°F for medium-rare — it'll climb another 5° while it rests. And it has to rest. Ten minutes minimum on a tented plate. If you cut into it the second it comes off the grill, all that juice is going to end up on your cutting board instead of in the meat.
Why The Beef Itself Matters Most
Doesn't matter how good your technique is — if the meat's no good, the cookout's no good. The grocery store stuff is mostly fine. But there's a real difference when you're cooking beef that was raised right, on real grass, on real ground, by a real family who's been doing it for generations.
Cattle that eat grass and walk pasture taste like beef is supposed to taste. Richer. More complex. You'll notice it the first bite.
You know where it came from. You know who raised it. You can drive out here and see the herd if you want to.
Grass-finished beef carries more omega-3s, more conjugated linoleic acid, and a cleaner fat profile than conventional grain-only feedlot beef.
When you buy from us, you're not feeding a corporation. You're keeping a family of brothers on the land we grew up on.
Now — About Season 3
Here's the other thing on my mind this Memorial Day: in a few weeks, the cameras come back on. Season 3 of The McBee Dynasty: Real American Cowboys premieres Monday, June 15 at 9 PM ET on Bravo, with next-day streaming on Peacock.
I'm not going to spoil anything. But I'll say this — the last year has been the hardest stretch this family's ever been through. Dad's not on the place the way he used to be. The four of us — me, Jesse, Cole, and Brayden — have been running this thing through everything you can imagine and a few things you can't. Banks calling, decisions getting made, people coming and going. New chapters starting. Old ones ending.
Mark Your Calendar
The McBee Dynasty Season 3
Premieres Monday, June 15 at 9 PM ET on Bravo. Streams next day on Peacock.
More ranch. More family. More on the line than ever.
You're going to see the real thing. Calving, shipping cattle, fighting with my brothers, laughing with my brothers, and trying to keep a 100+ year family operation moving forward without dropping the rope. It's the realest version of this family we've ever put on camera.
"The cameras don't change the work. The work was already there. The cameras just let you see it."
The Summer Ahead
So that's where we are. Memorial Day weekend, calving's about wrapped up, the pastures are as green as they get out here in Missouri, and the trailers full of beef are heading out to families all over the country. The show drops June 15. And we'll keep showing up here on the journal with what's actually going on at the farm — not the highlight reel, the real thing.
If you're firing up the grill this weekend, do it right. Cook a piece of beef that came from somewhere real. Hug the people sitting at your table. And take a minute, before the first bite, to think about the ones who aren't sitting there anymore.
That's the whole point of the day.
— Steven McBee, McBee Farm & Cattle Co.
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