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Stag Charcoal – our first impressions
For 2025, we’ve made the commitment to run our cookery school on British charcoal, so it made complete sense to source locally, and Stag Charcoal was the obvious choice. Made from Grown in Britain hardwoods; it’s sustainable and 100% natural.
Matt Edmonds is the fanatic behind Stag, passionate about producing first-class British charcoal. Stag moved their production to just outside Cambridge a couple of years back, and we really must visit some time soon.
We sourced our charcoal from House of Charcoal, who specialise in British Charcoal.
Opening the bag
Wow, the chunks are large. We’ve used Big Green Egg Oak and Hickory charcoal for over 10 years, but over time, the quality has dropped. It’s better now, but the size of the chunks doesn’t compare to those from Stag. I actually opened the first bag of Stag Ash charcoal during our first class of 2025 and everyone commented on the pieces, all being positive.
Now that I’ve finished the first bag, I can tell you there was very little dust and smaller pieces in it.
Value
At £26 for 6kg (£4.33/kg), this doesn’t seem to be the same value as Big Green Egg’s 8kg bags at £28 (£3.5/kg). The volume of the bag looks very similar though.
What’s clear is the density of this charcoal is lower (it’s lighter for the same volume).
We were all amazed by how well the charcoal lasted. Having cooked for most of the morning and half of the afternoon at around 180°C-200°C, there was still plenty of charcoal remaining. Normally, before we move onto our steak competition, I would be forced to refuel, but with the Stag charcoal, we could easily have carried on without refuelling.
I’ve not done any scientific experiments, but I would say this charcoal burns longer.
I’m super happy with the value this charcoal gives.
Lighting
Bigger chunks help with airflow through the charcoal, and good airflow is key to lighting and maintaining temperature in charcoal. This stuff lights really easily, with very little smoke, something I really like. Each of the Eggs was at 180°C or more well within 15 minutes of lighting.
Flavour
This ash charcoal is fairly neutral, making it perfect for our classes. We cook meats, but we also cook two desserts and bread during the class. I like to be able to add wood chips and chunks to charcoal when I need smoke; cherry chips with our chocolate brownie, for example. This ash charcoal is perfect when you don’t want an overpowering taste.
Conclusions
This is a top quality British charcoal, one we are really pleased to be using. The value is good as the burn time is very good. We would highly recommend this charcoal.
Check out House of Charcoal, who are on a mission to get British barbecuers to make British charcoal their first choice for its quality, versatility and sustainability.
