FOGO Santa Bag of Coal With Premium Oak Restaurant Grade All-Natural Hardwood Lump Charcoal Fuel for Ideal Grilling and Smoking, Black, 35 Pounds

Firstly, this is, in fact, the premium charcoal.Secondly, it is easy to light and burns hot and seemingly with little smoke. The charcoal is very dense and hard.Thirdly, it imparts a terrible taste to that which is cooked over it. I must clarify as my experience with this product is limited to one, two-hour, cook in a Big Green Egg. Those readers who use BGEs, or their kamado cousins, are probably well aware that these grills are very sensitive to the charcoal used in them. Because of their enclosed cooking, they concentrate the flavor produced by the charcoal in that which is being cooked, hence, the sensitivity to the fuel.The labeling on the bag of Fogo claims that it is made from evergreen oak. Whatever evergreen oak is, it made the chicken taste as if it had been marinated in a mixture of aromatic hydrocarbons. No lighter fluid of ANY type had been used to light the charcoal. The chicken, whole, was not burned or over-cooked. It was on the Egg at 325 for about two hours.The chicken went into the garbage and the Fogo is going right behind it. There is little reason to ruin anything else over this charcoal.Perhaps, maybe probably, this charcoal would work well for a hot, fast ( two minutes per side) burger cook and it might work well in a grill other than a kamado. I am not able to make an informed comment about other uses.My past experience with charcoal made from very dense wood has never been good. As I remember, the species of tree from which this charcoal is made was not in the listing. Such fuel is better avoided, in my experience, in a kamado.As an aside, the best charcoal for a kamado, IMHO, is North American grown oak or hickory that has been properly processed...that is, kept in the retort long enough to boil off all of the unpleasant volatiles, so that all of the unpleasant volatiles do not impart the marinated-in-aromatic-hydrocarbons taste to whatever is being cooked.I'll be using my old standby, when I can find it again!

We have been grilling with this charcoal for years - at least 3 meals per week, year round! (the joy of southern living!). It is simply unparalleled. The flavor matches that of any fine South American meat restaurant right in your own back yard. Other brands charge a premium for big block chunks, not Fogo. Your 35 lb bag will contain the biggest pieces consistently of any brand. Whether cooking in a kamado egg or conventional grill, simply choke off the air supply when done cooking and it will quickly go out. Bank off the ash next time and top off to start anew! It lights very quickly with a wax cube or other flavorless starter - never a need for starter fluid which will ruin the taste of your food. Burns hot enough to sear steaks or long enough to smoke a turkey if you control your grill properly. Match this with a pepper based rub on beef pluc a bottle of Malbec, or a brown sugar based rub on salmon plus a cedar plank, paired with roasted asparagus and a nice glass of Pinot Noir. Your taste buds will explode. Hungry yet?

Summary: - Lump charcoal, not briquettes - Be sure you know the difference. - Pricier than other charcoal, but you’re paying for a premium product. - Impressive burn time. Burned hot for nearly twice as long as I’m used to with other brands.Overview / First Impressions:I’d been seeing quite a few ads for Fogo Charcoal as of late, so I decided to pick some up. I went head-first and got the largest bag I could. Price-wise, it made the most sense, granted it’s as good as they say it is.First and foremost, this is lump charcoal. If you’ve never used lump charcoal before, it’s going to be a bit of a different experience than briquettes. There are pros and cons to both. I tend to use charcoal mostly for dutch oven cooking and lump charcoal can be a little more challenging to keep your heat even. But there are ways around that.For my first cook, I did a beef stew in my 12” dutch oven.This charcoal smells great, and does impart some of that hardwood flavor from the smoke on your food. While the lumps were definitely not uniform in size, they were consistent. More so than other brands of lump charcoal I’ve tried. Note that these pieces are quite large so I did have to improvise and lift my oven up higher than normal...It did take a bit to get them lit and burning but that is to be expected with lump.They threw a great heat, and it was a consistent heat that lasted a long time. I suppose I could do a formal test and compare times, but I feel like I would have gone through twice as much of my normal brand to get as long a cook time as I did out of the Fogo.My only complaint is that the seller used FedEx to ship this. FedEx has been horrible as of late. But it got here and that’s what matters.In closing, this is not your cheap, store-brand charcoal. You’re paying more for a premium product. And you’re getting premium quality that, in my opinion, is worth it. I can’t afford to buy a bag of this weekly so it won’t completely replace the briquettes I use regularly, but I will certainly buy this again.

The description of this item is very misleading. The product label is the Super Premium which is for restaurant use. The product description says it is the Premium type which is for home use in things like a green egg. I wanted the Premium, but received the Super Premium. The Super Premium is great, but takes a very long time to light. Please correct your product description to what is being sold.

Used a lot of lump charcoal in my BGE, but I have not gone away from Fogo in the last 3-4 years. I have owned my BGE for 10 years and use it regularly. This is the best most consistent charcoal I have used. No sparking like some others but big chunks and it will burn hot or for a long smoke.