July is National Grill Month, so in honor of the important month, Perdue commissioned a study with Talker Research about grilling. It had some interesting take-aways and some complete surprises. The survey was of 5,000 Americans, split evenly by state and it explored grilling behaviors.

As a proud Michigander, I was most surprised to see that Michigan had the second highest percentage of people that consider themselves regular grillers at 59%. They trailed Oregon at 61% and led third-place New Hampshire at 58%.

I find this surprising because of the cold weather, and anecdotally, it seems to be less part of the culture than some southern states. I guess the cold isn’t keeping people from grilling though because the state with the highest grilling frequency was Wyoming averaging 17 grill days a year.

The states with the least amount of grilling are Hawaii, Mississippi, and Vermont. They had the highest percent of the population surveyed rating themselves as rare grillers with Hawaii at 31%, Mississippi at 24% and Vermont at 24%.

Chicken is Scary

Despite Perdue commissioning the study, people are afraid of cooking chicken. It’s understandable because of food safety concerns it’s commonly overcooked. I know I’ve eaten my fair share of dry, charred chicken at family cookouts.

Grilling a whole chicken topped multiple categories about cooking difficulty. 21% of people surveyed consider it the riskiest food to grill, while 27% consider it the most difficult.

That level of fear continued, with 49% of Americans having avoided grilling whole chicken entirely. Even when a chicken is chopped, a third have avoided grilling breast, thighs or wings.

Grilled chicken, whether it’s wings, breasts, thighs or the whole bird, is the quintessential American food. We want people to feel confident prepping, grilling and serving chicken — because when it’s done well, it’s almost always the star of the cookout.

Chris Perdue, senior vice president of marketing of digital and e-commerce at Perdue

The intimidation of grilling has led to an overwhelming 57% of respondents having defaulted to safer foods like hamburgers and hot dogs. In general, 50% of people said they find grilling intimidating.

Focus on Grilling Ease

The intimidation towards grilling, especially delicious chicken, shows the continued opportunity for grilling innovation. The push over the past ten years with increasing tech on grills has been towards an easier grilling experience.

With controllers to take care of fire temps, probes to monitor food temps, and apps to provide all the information to grillers, it’s easier than ever to grill. The survey shows there’s still plenty of opportunity for education around the latest grilling tech and for easy cooking techniques.

I know when I’m around other people grilling, it’s rare to see a meat thermometer. That’s a basic and inexpensive tool that through education would make grilling things like chicken much more successful and less scary.

More data and the survey questions can be found at the Talker Research website.