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Grilling – by the numbers

Posted at 5:24 PM, Jun 21, 2013
and last updated 2013-06-21 18:00:25-04

By Amy Roberts, CNN

(CNN) — Fact: Americans are in a fiery, long-term love affair with their backyard grills, and the CNN Library has the stats to prove it.

62 — Percent of Americans who own a grill.

79.1 million — Americans who have grilled out in the past 12 mos, according to the U.S. Census from 2010.

8.3 — Percentage who grill two or three times a month.

8.1 — Average number of cookout parties held at grillers’ homes each year. We grillers like to party.

160 degrees — The safe internal temperature for ground beef or pork. It’s 165 degrees for ground chicken or turkey. Buy a grilling thermometer, people!

165 degrees — The safe internal temperature for grilling poultry. One of the ways to tell if the meat is done is when it reaches this temperature. Some meats benefit from resting a few minutes after you remove them from the grill. It cooks a little bit longer after that, too, so factor that in.

86 — USA! USA! Percent of grill owners who plan to grill on the Fourth of July this summer.

84 — Percentage of grillers who cook burgers, the most popular food on a list that also includes steak, hot dogs, and chicken not far behind.

5,700 — Fires on residential grills in the U.S. were reported between 2006 and 2008, causing $37 million in property loss.

14,397,000 — The total number of grill and smoker units shipped in the U.S. in 2012, according to the Hearth, Patio, and Barbecue Association.

7 out of 10 — Home grillers surveyed in 2011 who considered themselves to be “better than average” at grilling.