(exciting jazzy music)
- Now there is a load of hype around HexClad pans
at the moment.
They've been endorsed by Gordon Ramsay,
and they are just everywhere.
Now, they've sent us a set of the pans under no obligation,
but we thought,
"We've got two chefs! Why not give them the pans
and see if they're worth the hype?"
- Straight away, we have to draw attention
to the new man in the room.
- Yes! We couldn't let Ben test these pans by himself.
We've brought Kush, our Head of Food, into help him.
- This could be a mistake.
(laughing)
- This is gonna get geeky. This is gonna get chef-y,
but at the end of the day, it's only pans.
- It's only pans.
- Only pans. - Only pans.
- Well first off, unboxing, unpacking,
they come with these
to protect your pans
so that every time you finish with your pan,
and you wash it up, and you dry it,
you put it back in the bag so that it doesn't get damaged.
- Yeah, the the concept sounds great.
In reality, absolutely not.
They're getting shoved in a cupboard.
- [Ben] But it is quite important
to think about how you do store your pans.
You could just use a bit of kitchen paper between pans
or pan pads.
- [Baz] Yeah.
- [Ben] What you shouldn't really do is just
throw them all on top of each other.
That's where you start to damage pans.
Straight out the box, they recommend you season the pan.
- [Kush] So you traditionally season a pan
that's got a high iron content.
A cast iron, yeah? Or a wok.
- Yeah. - Yeah.
- So it protects the metal from rust.
It stops water getting in,
and it helps make it non-stick after use.
These are already non-stick and they're made up of steel,
but they still say to season it so we have to season it.
- When you say season, do you mean
just a little bit of salt and pepper to finish?
- [Kush] No. A tiny bit of neutral, high-temperature oil.
We're using vegetable oil here.
And you traditionally bring it up to a very high heat
after rubbing it onto the pan.
Let almost bake on and set.
- [Ben] Whereas here what they're suggesting
is a thin layer of vegetable oil
and just heat it up slowly to a medium heat
for a couple of minutes.
It's a very light oiling and warming
rather than what I would associate is a seasoning
that you might to do on a wok that takes proper time.
- Yeah, like a good massage:
light oiling and warming.
- [Ben] Nice. (laughing)
- Really get it in there.
- As opposed to an inferno.
So right off the bat, let's talk about what the pans are.
They are a hybrid pan of non-stick and stainless steel.
- [Kush] Non-Teflon based non-stick.
I think it is a ceramic compound,
which is the black,
and then you can hear sounds a bit like grate-y,
and that's the lightly raised stainless steel hexagonal dots
and I think that's where they get the name from.
- [Ben] In theory, this hexagonal design will give you
very even heat distribution and heat retention,
so our first dish is a classic apple tarte tatin,
and we're gonna make caramel in it.
(exciting music)
- So first up the caramel,
a dusting of caster sugar in the pan
over a medium-high heat,
and then we're gonna prep some apples.
Peeled, quartered, corded.
- [Jamie] This is them living their best life.
- [Barry] Well the thing is
the two of them went to university together, didn't they?
- Yeah.
- And I think this is how they got to know each other,
just standing there chopping and peeling onions and ...
- Ben would peel an onion, and then I'd have to re-peel it
because he'd missed a bit.
(laughing)
- Says he who has missed some on the apple.
Kush and I have very different cooking styles.
- Yeah. Kush is good.
(laughing)
That sugar's taking a while to melt.
That's probably because of our rubbish electric hobs.
Do they also work on induction and gas?
- Yes.
They say they work on any heat source, and are oven-safe,
hence why we're doing a tarte tatin
because it has to go in the oven.
It's not eat heating too evenly at the moment.
So they say never stir a caramel.
That's not true.
- Ugh!
- It is the best rule for normal home cooks.
- Yes.
- Because it eliminates risk.
- We can't have rules for normals and rules for chefs.
- Yes, we have to because you guys
don't listen to the detail. - Yeah.
- So we have to give you something that's
simple, top line that does most of it.
- [Barry] Oh right. Look.
He's suddenly got a friend in the kitchen.
- Yeah. - And he gets all big
and bad for himself.
Look, I've got someone here to protect me.
- We've dumbed it down for you because
you can't handle the truth!
- Correct! (laughing)
So we're doing a dry caramel. See how there's no water.
It's just sugar.
It's a lot quicker.
- It is a bit riskier because you could burn it.
It will crystallise if you stir it straight away,
but once the caramel starts to form,
you go in with the second half of the sugar
and stir it together and then it should get an even heat.
- It's working pretty well.
We're gonna take it a bit darker than we'd expect,
because then we're going to bring it back
with the sweetness of apples and butter.
Butter goes in. It foams up.
Then the apples and then a puff pastry lid,
which we've already cut to shape and put in the freezer,
so it is rigid and easy to work with.
- Is there anything better than the pride that you feel
after you've cooked a meal for
friends, family, or loved ones
and you see their little faces light up with joy
as they tuck into your creation?
Well for many, knowing what to cook, how to make it,
and what to buy can be daunting.
So what if I told you ...
Oh. So what if I told you that in the next 28 days,
you could do something that could save you money,
reduce your food waste, and change your cooking habits
forever.
But not only that, this February,
if you cook up just one recipe pack
from our Sidekick app,
(that's only three meals)
you will automatically be entered into a competition
to win all of these incredible prizes
and the ultimate Sorted Food filming experience.
Yeah, you can join us here in the studio
to see what goes on behind the scenes
and have a very special lunch cooked for you
by our Head of Food, Kush.
All right.
That is the 28-day Sidekick challenge.
Sign up, enjoy great food, and good luck.
We can't wait to see your creations.
(exciting music)
- So we are going to return to our apple tarte tatin later,
but dish number two: steak with like an umami steak-y sauce.
- Ooh-mami. (laughing)
- Now, these pans require you to slightly rethink
the way that you cook because they don't like
to be heated to super high temperatures
which is what traditionally you'd might do to sear a steak.
A stainless steel pan that you can get fiercely hot
that's got a really thick base is another approach.
So the stainless steel is 50% of this.
It's kind of the raised bit off the non-stick.
Alternatively, you've got something like a non-stick pan
which you could cook steak in,
but then you also don't want to pre-heat that too high.
- [Kush] Start with hot oil in the pan
until it's shimmering and looks loosened like it does now.
Put the steak in, give it a few turns,
and then once it's started to colour,
put butter in, and then we start basting.
- So despite it only being a medium heat,
we're still getting a good sear on it
because it has got lots of contact with stainless steel.
- Are there hexagonal lines on it?
- No.
- There aren't. Okay.
- [Ben] No, no, no, no.
- So it's not raised enough to ...
- Yeah. A good point.
Like a cast iron, you might get grill lines.
You're not etching into this.
- Are you happy with this sear?
Because they make some strong claims on their site.
- Not they!
Gordon Ramsay!
- [Barry] Oh, sorry.
- [Kush] I personally think you would've got
a better sear in a full stainless steel pan.
- [Ben] What I would say is, because they're a hybrid,
they're doing two things, and I'm not sure they're gonna do
either of those things to a hundred percent.
- Yeah.
- [Ben] But by doing both of them to ...
I'm making up numbers 80, 85%, plus adding the durability,
they become an all-rounded good pan.
- [Kush] Theoretically. - [Ben] Theoretically
- We're chefs, so we're sticking a temperature probe
in the steak because we've spent 40 pounds on it,
so why risk overcooking it?
And essentially once that hits 53 degrees inside, it's done.
- Now this is for our pan sauce,
which we're going to pour over the steak
as it continues to rest.
It is mushrooms in that browned butter
followed by shallots, and chilli, and garlic,
and then a whole bunch of umami.
Absolute force of habit, this.
Which is why I always have a tea towel in the back pocket
because you can always grab it
and hold onto the hot pan handle
because if you're cooking in cast iron,
it will be freaking hot
or stainless steel.
But these aren't because they're hollow,
and they have this wide kind of A shape,
which means that even though the pan is a good temperature
and good searing and good basting,
the handle isn't.
Worth pointing out: metal utensils absolutely fine.
Don't stab it with a fork, or with a skewer,
or anything that's gonna go into.
They'll give it bits between the hexagonal raise.
(exciting music)
Two seconds to clean the pan,
And what's good is that you can basically clean it
inside and out because the whole thing is non-stick.
(exciting music)
- So I'm quite happy with the way the steak turned out.
- [Ben] Cheer. - [Kush] Cheers.
Oh, hello.
- Now, this is why I said this was two chefs.
- It's got a buttery sear.
- [Barry] Oh my goodness.
Obviously inside we've not got like a smoky char grill
kind of vibe.
- Maybe hiding it under all this flavour
you get away with not the ultimate char
from the cast iron pan.
I think that's all right.
- I mean, it's damn delicious.
- It's definitely a compromise,
but it's produced a very good result.
- Should we do something different?
So number three: potato cakes and then sticky proteins,
like fish skin or hallloumi.
- I've had problems with all of these.
- [Ben] So we're going to make some
bubble and squeak patties.
- Why is Kush getting ready for another massage?
(laughing)
- [Kush] So I want to oil my hands.
Rather than having to fill a whole glass full of oil,
you float the oil on top of the water
so when you pass through it you get oily fingers.
- Don't look at us like that.
- [Ben] I love bubble and squeak,
but it's made from leftover mashed potato,
which has already had the milk and/or butter in it,
so when you do it, it can be a bit wet and sticky,
and sometimes you can have problems in the pan.
- The key is to get it in there and don't move it.
- [Ben] Or cheat it and flour it.
It gives you a bit of a safety net,
but we're hoping we don't need to.
- So salmon.
Boys, listen.
(laughing) - Oh!
- [Kush] Sorry, sorry.
- I've got funny feeling in my trousers.
(laughing)
- So pan fried salmon.
We want the really crispy, crunchy skin,
like salmon crackling.
One fillet I cut into two.
One I unwrapped and left uncovered
in the fridge for two days,
and one I didn't unwrap.
The reason I've dried one piece out is to test whether
the technique that we used to use in restaurants
still works in these pans.
Dry your skin out, so it takes away all the risk
of it sticking.
- [Ben] It's the proteins in the food that bind to the pan,
so you're kind of going to struggle to get away from that.
It's why eggs and egg protein are some of the worst.
They're not sticking so far.
They're zsuhzing around in the pan.
Time to flip.
- Oh. Ah. Interesting.
- That's very interesting.
- It's a very large pan for our domestic electric hob,
and therefore it's only got heat on some of it.
- Would you say that this size pan is better for gas, then,
so you get more even heat going around it?
- That, or to be honest with you, user error,
as in I was doing it like that.
Halloumi patted dry and then into an oiled pan.
Simple maths, 80% of cooking before you flip it.
- [Kush] Yeah. So we're gonna let the heat come up
through the fish.
You'll see it on the sides going opaque.
Flip it, and take it off the heat.
- Is one of those wobbling and the other's not?
- [Kush] Yes. So gentle wiggle on the pan,
one is flying around there, the dry one,
and the other one is not moving at all.
Cool! There you go.
It needed a bit of help, and now they're both moving,
but that's quite evidential, isn't it?
- The tricky thing with this test is that
all the pans that I buy, no matter how cheap they are,
they always work first time.
- Oh yeah, definitely.
- [Ben] I agree.
I think this will come down to,
like any expensive bit of kit,
how you look after it and its durability in the long term.
- [Kush] So the fish is cooked,
but you can see a marked difference in the colour.
You've got a rich bronze and you can hear that
on the dry fish.
Sounds like pork crackling,
So you'll have less crispiness, less flavour, I think
- So what we're learning is the pan worked for both.
If you want better crackling, dry your fish.
- [Kush] Yes.
(exciting music)
- I feel like it's worked just by looking.
Hot all the way through and crisp on the outside.
- Quite delicate.
So that wouldn't have worked, I don't think,
definitely not a stainless steel pan.
- More difficult in a stainless steel, for sure.
- Yeah.
- I mean, ironically the tasting is almost irrelevant
because the pan doesn't change the flavour of the food.
You still have to think
because that's not how I would typically have
cooked those things.
I'd have gone hotter and higher.
Whereas this, you've got the ability to go
a lower medium temperature for longer.
- I almost become accustomed now to losing the skin
to the pan and thinking,
"Ah, that's just part of the process."
- It's peeling off and sticking to the pan.
- That, to me, is the most impressive of all them.
The fact that it didn't stick at all straight away there.
Even with a wet skin.
- Yeah
- If you have the time, and you dry your skin out,
you're gonna get a better result.
Right. I think it's my turn to make some
horrible sounds in a pan
- A roux turned into a bechamel, turned into a mornay
for mac and cheese.
(whisk scraping pan) - Oh!
- [Kush] We're making the roux, and I'm just putting in
the butter in a few, two or three different intervals.
- That's milk.
- Putting in the other dairy liquid.
Putting in the milk.
- I did a chef!
- [Kush] In two or three intervals.
- I still make a roux and a bechamel and a mornay
with a wooden spoon because, if you do it right,
it's lump-free anyway.
- I always use a whisk.
Metal in stainless steel, and then once it's come up
and bound together, then I switch to a silicon spatula.
Nice, thick, smooth.
So we're going in with Comté, cheddar, parmesan, pecorino,
and smoked provolone.
I must say I like the height of this pan.
As you can see, the smaller pan is shallower,
so this one's got a good depth to it,
which means you can, you know, whisk and stir in it.
It's not too shallow, so the sauce isn't going to
fall out the sides.
(exciting music)
So that's all tightened up nicely.
Into the oven.
230 until it's bubbling and golden.
Probably worth mentioning,
we said the handles don't get hot earlier.
We mean when on the hob.
Obviously, they get hot in the oven.
(exciting music)
That is a rather lovely mac and cheese,
but the point of doing this was make a sauce, a roux,
in a pan with a whisk,
which you wouldn't normally do in a non-stick pan, for sure.
And then, also, once we made the sauce,
the pasta went in.
It went into the oven.
So again, hot oven. It's an oven-proof,
including the handle,
but just make sure it doesn't get too hot.
- [Kush] Also, there are some bits that have caramelised
onto the pan, and in an enamel dish or a baking tray,
they'd be really hard to get off,
but I think ...
Yeah, nothing has stuck.
- I think it's a bit too hot to eat, chef.
- For you, yeah.
- I've got a very soft, delicate tongue.
- I know.
(laughing)
- That's stick-to-your-rib cheesy goodness.
- Yeah.
- The crusty of a mac and cheese are the best bits.
- Exactly. That's why I love doing in a frying pan.
It's done everything we thought it would
after testing other dishes.
- Dish five: a light crepe batter,
and what we're testing is will they stick?
- [Jamie] First pancake is always a snacking pancake.
- It's a write off.
- It doesn't get served, it just gets snacked on.
- [Kush] But why?
- [Jamie] Because of temperature equalisation
across the pan.
Ah!
- [Ben] So it's a thin pancake batter.
One part flour, one part egg, two parts milk,
and then we've laced it with brown butter,
so you should get a nice colouring all over
when you've got the pan up to temperature.
First pancake: definitely no stickage
- [Kush] I like the hexagonal pancake shape.
(exciting music)
Lovely
- Classic. Don't know if it's breakfast or dessert,
but I'm happy either way.
- Ooh! So mini burrito.
- Yep!
- [Barry] I just hate how we're never invited
- [Jamie] We're never invited.
You don't like banana.
- Yeah, but I like pancakes.
Do you want half a pancake?
- Yeah, I do.
- Lacy. Laminated with butter.
Golden. Hexagonal, as it turns out. Colouring. Simple enough.
And easy enough because none of it's stuck,
and it doesn't even need washing up.
- Yep.
- Beautiful pancakes, boys. - Lovely batter.
- Yes, we've only cooked four or five crepes in it,
so it is still "brand new"
but they actually say these get better
if you use them for a couple of weeks
because they kind of naturally season themselves.
- Why, by being more seasoned, is it better as a pan then?
- You season food to get it ready to eat.
You season the pan to get it ready to cook.
- Damn, that's actually really useful.
- Yeah.
(exciting music)
- So this came out the oven.
It's cooled down for about half an hour.
If it spins, we'll know that nothing will stick to the pan.
So hand on top
and turn.
- Ooh.
- [Kush] So that's saying that it should flip out
quite easily.
- And typically, you would or perhaps need to
just heat the bottom of the pan to loosen it
to flip it out.
- Yeah. - Yeah.
- However, in this instance we shouldn't need that.
- [Kush] Yeah. - [Ben] Moment of truth!
- Hup!
- It's like you've done one or two of those before, Kush
- [Barry] (bleep) off. (laughing)
- Why do chefs make this look so easy?
- And still it comes out
with nothing stuck
- [Kush] There's a little bit of caramel on the edges,
but I think that's to be expected.
Soak that pan in a large bowl of warm, lightly soapy water
and then just wipe it out.
That'll dissolve the sugar off.
- And they are also dishwasher-proof.
(exciting music)
- Cut a slice.
Oh my goodness!
- [Ben] Would you like some, boys?
- [Barry] Oh now, now we get an invite.
- Now we're invited. Yeah.
So good.
- That caramel is not the right level of bitterness,
isn't it? It doesn't taste too sweet for sugar.
- That's stonking.
- So the set we tested today came as part
of a four-pan set with three lids,
but one of the pans was a wok, which we couldn't test today
because we haven't got the facilities to.
But what did the set come in at?
- So that set, today, is 420 pounds.
- Okay.
- [Jamie] And as chefs, having tested it,
what's your honest opinion on them?
- For me, there hasn't been true like innovation in pans
for like 40 years since non-stick came about.
This is the combination, the hybrid of the two,
and as long as you buy it understanding what the pan does
and are prepared to adjust your cooking,
then you get great results.
I'm struggling to fault them.
- There's no getting around they're expensive pans,
which is even more reason to make sure you look after them.
- So it feels to me like that new technology
could be a game changer in pans.
For every recipe, as a normal, that I'm gonna go and read,
it's gonna tell me to turn the heat up to high
to cook a steak.
- [Barry] Yes.
- So I'm gonna have to know what I'm doing
and therefore know how to adjust
to make the best of the pans and the best of a recipe.
- I'd suggest, if you're gonna spend the money,
and you already have some pans at home, maybe just buy one.
Buy the medium frying pan. Test it out.
And if you do like that, and you can adjust, then buy a set.
You don't have to go full-hog straight away.
- It's interesting to think that over the next few years,
as there's a new technology,
that that starts to trickle down
into more affordable everyday pans
- And Kush, great debut!
- Yes! (clapping)
Right. Comment down below.
What did you think of the pans and Kush?
Let us know!