Football without grilling: like January without blizzards, or chips without guacamole, it’s just not as good as it should be. But as all you sports fans know, grilling is also a thankless task — one that leaves you slaving over the hot coals while your friends catch all the highlight reel-worthy plays (or Katy Perry’s dance moves).

That’s the scenario the engineers at Lynx had in mind: if everyone else is having fun, why should the chef have to hover over the grill and miss out on all the action? The Lynx SmartGrill is a gas grill built on the idea that chefs should have just as much fun as everyone else — all from the handy screen of a mobile phone.

Before we go any further — yes, we realize it’s February. But what better reason to focus on the coming summer? Backyard BBQs, shorts and sandals, wiffle ball, burgers on the grill…can you feel the sunshine? Now imagine spending more time on the Slip’N Slide, and less time flipping burgers...

That’s where the Lynx SmartGrill comes in. Loaded with thousands of recipes, the SmartGrill enables you to cook food perfectly, from anywhere, and the Heroku cloud platform unlocks the ability to control the grill from an app on your smartphone. Just tell the SmartGrill what you want to cook (BBQ chicken, lamb kebabs, etc.) — via its voice-activated technology or using your mobile phone — and it gets to work, preheating to the proper temperature and alerting you when it’s ready for food. After you put the food over the flame, the SmartGrill alerts you when it’s ready to flip, and again when it’s done.

It gets better. Imagine cooking beef burgers, veggie burgers, and corn on the cob all at the same time — without worrying about one item being done before the others. SmartGrill not only cooks each item perfectly, but can make sure that each food is hot and ready to serve at exactly the same time. (Vegetarians, you don’t even have to let the beef touch your tempeh!) Want to grill up some shrimp appetizers before the main course? No problem: “meal mode” lets you choose what comes off of the grill, when. It’s safe, too: although you can turn off the grill from the mobile app, you can’t turn it on unless you’re there — and if you forget to turn it off, it will automatically shut down after 30 minutes

But the SmartGrill isn’t just one-size-fits all: you can customize it to your preferences by adding or subtracting heat so the food is cooked exactly how you want it. A custom learning algorithm means that the SmartGrill remembers these preferences so the grill always gets it right — dishing up meals that will have you going back for seconds, and maybe even thirds (no judgment here!).

Sure, the SmartGrill will be a hit at your next outdoor party. But what’s even better is the smart technology behind it: the Heroku cloud platform that makes it possible to add, store, and reference hundreds of customizable recipes.

“We didn’t want SmartGrill to be just a product — we also wanted it to be about that service, and what service came down to was the recipes,” Chin says.

Heroku brought the power of the SmartGrill app, making it possible to store thousands of recipes while enabling grillers to add their own and share them within a community.

“When we used Heroku for the server communications with the SmartGrill and the server communications with the app, Heroku was so much more responsive,” said Chin. “We wanted the flexibility of a platform, but also the responsiveness. Because when it comes to cooking, that’s what’s so important — and Heroku really delivered on that.”

Chin sees enormous possibilities for SmartGrill with the platform, like partnering with local grocers to find all of the ingredients for your grill recipes, or suggestions for wine pairings with your meal.

But for now, the Lynx team is devoted to delivering a next-generation grilling experience that is less stressful and more delicious than ever.

“The less you have to worry about the cooking — or in this case, the grilling — is more time to spend with the people you love, or anything else you may want to do. The SmartGrill is better because it enriches the user’s life,” Chin says.

The SmartGrill will be released in March, but you can pre-order it now. Visit the Lynx website to learn more.

Lynx built the SmartGrill with three different types of grillers in mind with capabilities to satisfy each type. What kind of griller are you? Take the quiz to find out, along with a recipe that you should try based on your score! You could win a Lynx Smoker Box Set and wood chips. To enter, take the quiz and tweet your results with #SalesforceSweeps. Sweepstakes ends Wednesday, March 4, 2015. See Complete Rules.