It’s his version of design—

—Syd says of his prowess on the family grill. “I grew up grilling with my dad,” he explains. “Every Sunday the whole family would gather together. I was the youngest of six kids, so there was always a ton of people milling around the backyard. My mom would throw all the chicken breasts into a Ziploc bag with BBQ sauce. It seemed like for the next decade we were eating the same rolls with the same chicken, which is funny now, but at the time I thought it was gourmet.”

Now, carrying on the tradition, Syd jokes that while him and Shea are progressive when it comes to gender roles, “she’s not a griller. The kids are usually on the trampoline or in the pool, and Shea is preparing a salad or appetizers.” He starts off strong, he says, but by the end of the season, “Shea keeps buying meats for me to grill. She’ll come home with it and say, ‘I thought it sounded super good tonight!’ And the girls love to taste test, though to them everything is chicken. It’ll be pork or steak or salmon, but to them, it’s chicken,” Syd laughs. Below, Syd’s BBQ essentials for spring grilling.