Food, Friends, and Grilling Barbecue at Your Smart Home this Holiday

A liquid-oxygen-fueled grill was actually one of the first viral videos from the 90s. Despite being done by engineering students, it's still not a *smart* way to cook food.

Memorial Day, but also the Fourth of July, Labor Day, and any rando weekend can be an occasion for fun and outdoor cooking.

Let's talk about *smart* ways to barbecue.

And Propane Accessories - the 3 Types of Grills

We know about propane and charcoal. There are also some stylish garden firepit units with amazing smokeless engineering. But let's quickly review anyway.

Propane. Propane is not out of reach, but it's expensive right now and might mean checking several filling stations to hit paydirt. Despite that, it burns "cleanly and evenly" as Hank Hill might say.

Charcoal. Since the discovery of fire, wood and wood accessories (like charcoal) have been used to create a way to cook. Charcoal is just oxidized wood, but it's tried and true.

Pellet Grills. An up-and-comer in the grilling game is the pellet grill. The technology here is the bundling and condensing of wood particles and biomass.

Food and cooking-purposed pellets are refined from hardwoods and similar materials that keep the cooking process in mind. The pellet stove really took hold in the 1970s when a heating service owner and an aviation engineer independently rediscovered it-grills-are-on-the-rise/"heating service owner and an aviation engineer independently rediscovered it during the energy crisis. These grills have automated features for controlling temps and feeding pellets. There's even a group of recipe books for them.

All Up in Your Grill: Smart Grilling with Smart Grills

Just eight years ago, a premium smart grill cost $7,500. Today, you can save money with an almost smoke-free Foreman-style indoor smart grill for 300 bucks before tax. Welcome to the Internet.

Each type of those three grills will have particulars when it comes to a smart version. There are even induction grills, giving you the ability to cook out with a simple plug into an outlet.

Many gas smart-enabled grills have apps that allow monitoring gas levels or time cooking. But nearly all won't start up by app for safety reasons. One maverick company is creating proprietary briquettesiquettes for a smart charcoal grill. As for pellet grills, the pioneer in this field was Traeger with its Alexa-compatible Pro-Series.

App(lication)s and Main Dishes

Best of all, Evolve Technologies can link your Alexa, and thousands of other apps, platforms, and devices, to the Control4 home automation system. Control4 opens the door to the best 21st-century smart home convenience.

|| Control 4: Evolve Technologies' Preferred Hub for Home Automation ||

• 8K, UHD (and up) video and home theater
• US hand-crafted sound systems including architectural speakers
• 4 mega-pixel, 12-frames-per-second home discrete-camera monitoring
• whole-home interior and exterior security systems incl. Chime and Ring smart doorbells with 150-degree video and two-way audio
• premier, modern, luxury home automated and powered window treatments from Lutron
• sunlight-mimicking LED and incandescent options from Ketra and Lutron for the house
• Seura and Screen Innovations weather and wet-environment smart screens for the home gym, pool room, patio, and kitchen

Control the Grill and Try Smoking Meat while Bragging about Stuff

Did your daughter get into an Ivy for the fall? You can brag on that from a comfortable Adirondack chair without burning the steaks.

Sometimes you want the sizzle and smell of the grill, but sometimes you just want to relax. Don't miss out on one second of catching up.

Use your Wi-Fi network or Bluetooth to adjust the temperature and tell you when to flip the cutlet. Even better, use the EasyBBQ app on NutriChef's Bluetooth BBQ grill thermometer. If you look online, you can find a good, inexpensive starter Bluetooth meat thermometer, too.

Sound It Out: Multi-Room Audio (and Visual) that Goes Outdoors

We talk about the audio and visual a lot at Evolve. That's the first thing that comes to mind with smart tech, after your phone: entertainment devices.

We know screen and sounds. 

But we 1) select the very best brands 2) consult and plan end-to-end installation according to your detailed needs and 3) offer services for the world-class audio and video setups with the new 24-hour chat support: get a reply from an expert, 24/7, as quick as ten minutes.

So, if you're grilling, that steak deserves some roadhouse tunes like Black Keys, maybe some throwback Bob Seger: steak music. Salmon burgers? Go with Jack Johnson. Heck, you can even make some Hank Williams Jambalaya on the Bayou if you know how to use tin foil on the grill.

And you can hear it in rich, crisp audio from the driveway to the edge of the garden.

Evolve Technologies for Year-Round Smart Home Excellence

Whether you grill old school or new school, there's about to be *no school* so get your kicks before summer camp, volunteering projects, or pre-season athletics--which always seems to start earlier every summer for kids.

Texas takes its food quite seriously. This is even more intense if we're talking about barbecue. Evolve knows premium home tech and automation for the greater Dallas, Texas area.

Call our company if you plan to have company this summer. We'd love to connect with you and talk about creating convenient, safety-enhanced, state-of-the-art home solutions for you and your family. Call Evolve today!