What Is the Favorite Cookout Food in New York?

By Howard Gensler

February 20, 2024 10:42am

Fact Checked by Pat McLoone

The weather is warming and we’re heading into cookout season. Folks are cleaning out the grills, buying the propane, checking the Internet for new recipes.

EmpireStakes.com – your source for New York sports betting – set out to find the favorite cookout food in every state.

EmpireStakes.com utilized Google Trends to determine the most searched main meal for cookouts in each state of the United States. The following meals were included once determining the top 5 most popular cookout foods based on search history in the summer – “Wings,” “Hamburger,” “Hot Dog,” “Ribs,” “Grilled Chicken.”

After completing the trends over the past 5 years (from April 1 to Sept. 1 each year), we were able to average out the results to get the top cookout foods for each state.

You can get just about any type of odds on NY betting apps, but you won’t find these results.

Favorite Cookout Meal by State

• Ribs (19 states): Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nevada, Oregon, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Washington, Wisconsin, Wyoming.
• Hamburger (10 states): Alabama, Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma
• Hot Dog (10 states): Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Rhode Island, Virginia, West Virginia
• Wings (6 states): Georgia, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Pennsylvania
• Grilled Chicken (5 states): Hawaii, Indiana, Montana, North Dakota, Vermont

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New York Is a ‘Wings’ State

In New York, the choice is wings.

Maybe because Buffalo Wings originated in, uh, Buffalo, New Yorkers have a hankering for deep-frying the un-breaded bird wings and then drenching them in a combination of hot sauce and hot butter. But New Yorkers are versatile: They also like their wings grilled, barbecued, baked or double-fried Korean style.

There are a lot of ethnic cuisines in New York and nearly each one has a chicken wing dish. Pizza places sell chicken wings, and so do taquerias. Sushi spots frequently have a chicken wing appetizer – with teriyaki and onions. Jamaicans smother their wings in jerk spices. Indian restaurants cook them with some yogurt in a tandoor oven. KFC sells its wings in a bucket.

Wing specialists have dozens of wing flavors. The Chinese put lemon on chicken. Even vegetarians eat “chicken wings” – they’re just not made from chicken.

One problem with wings, however, is they’re messy. A chicken wing cookout might be good for the family and very close friends, but not mingling singles. You don’t want to be eating wings on a first date, and have your mouth and fingers covered in sauce.

The other drawback to chicken wings recently has been the price – last year chicken prices were going through the coop. But supply started to increase in the winter and the cost of wings began coming down in time for the Super Bowl. Last year at this time wings were selling for around $3.50/pound. Last week, the USDA said they were around $2.30/pound. You get 5-6 whole wings per pound, and one Buffalo Wing, if you’re ordering out, is either the flat or the drumette, not the whole wing. So if you’re annoyed about inflation, don’t blame the chicken.

Cookout, first date advice . . . you get it all, and plenty of sports betting news and NY sportsbook promos here at EmpireStakes.com.

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