Hexclad review: save 30% on Gordon-Ramsey endorsed cookware
DESPITE being a prolific home cook and professional product reviewer, I've never had a nice set of pans.
Until now, I've gotten by using a mishmash of hand-me-downs my mum gave me when I moved to uni a decade ago, cheap individual pans purchased in the Amazon Prime Day sales, and ones shared between my housemates (which were probably given to them by their parents 10 years ago, too).
So when I was asked to review which are endorsed by Michelin Star chef and generally-hard-to-please-bloke Gordon Ramsey, I can't pretend that I showed much loyalty to my weatherbeaten cookware.
Hexclad claims to make "The Only True Hybrid Cookware", bringing together the "performance of stainless steel, the durability of cast iron, and the convenience of nonstick".
In theory, this sounds perfect; I own and use a cast iron skillet but am often put off by the amount of maintenance they require, love the idea of stainless steel pans but get worried about how hard they are to clean and cook with, and while I have used non-stick pans, I doubt I will ever buy them because of their limited lifespan.
If Hexclad can deliver what it claims, it'll justify the cost of its pans, but that's no easy task; the I tested usually costs £729, and still costs £499 in the brand's Black Friday sale.
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Pros
- Good all-round pan set that should suit most home cooks
- More durable than typical nonstick
- Oven-safe
- Dishwasher safe
- Super sleek design
- Lightweight
- Lifetime warranty (although this has limits)
- Stay-cool handle
Cons
- Heinously expensive
- They do have a shelf life
- While they are better all-rounders than cast iron, stainless steel or non-stick, they're not as good at specialist tasks
- Silver detailing is a bit hard to clean
- Can't be used above 260°C because of non-stick coating
Rating: 3/5
Hexclad review: quick summary
Having used them regularly for a period of around a month, I've been mildly impressed by Hexclad's pans.
Broadly, Hexclad has achieved what it's set out to achieve; it's created a pan that is easier to use than stainless steel, less effort to maintain than cast iron and more durable than non-stick.
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The best thing about these pans is that I don't have to worry about what I do with them. I occasionally put them in the dishwasher, regularly use metal utensils, throw them in the oven, and don't generally feel like I have to wrap them in cotton wool.
13pc Hybrid Cookware Set, £729 from Hexclad
The only thing you have to be wary of is cooking over high heat, which can ruin the non-stick coating.
Hexclad claims that the construction of its pans means that you can get great results using a lower temperature than you'd use with other pans, and this is somewhat true, but it is a bit of a pain nonetheless.
Furthermore, while the Hexclad design does make the pans good jack-of-all-trades, it also makes them masters of none.
The steel hexagon design means that they're not truly nonstick unless you use oil, while the nonstick coating prevents you from using them at a high enough heat to get an amazing sear.
And for the price of a single Hexclad pan, you could buy a decent stainless steel pan, cast iron skillet and non-stick.
Part of me thinks that if you have the space and inclination, you'd be better off doing that; you could get a , and for a fair amount less than one
However, if you're a non-stick lover who is tired of having to constantly replace your pans, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend Hexclad; although its nonstick performance isn't quite as good as a typical nonstick pan's, it compensates in durability.
Having said that, the biggest test for my Hexclad set will be longevity. Because they have a non-stick coating, these pans will have a shelf life; it's not like a cast-iron pan, which if looked after well enough, will last for generations.
Of course, I will update this review once I've used them for a longer period, but I have read reviews from people who've used their pans regularly for the best part of a decade, so I'm cautiously optimistic.
While the Hexclad design does make the pans good jack-of-all-trades, it also makes them masters of none
Hexclad review: full review
First impressions
13pc Hybrid Cookware Set, £729 from Hexclad
My 13-piece Hexclad set arrived, rather unsurprisingly, in a big and very heavy cardboard box.
Each pan was individually bagged, which I think is a nice touch; I've seen a few other reviewers complain about the quality of these bags, and I do understand their point — I think they're made from the same material used to make those flimsy and thoroughly unflattering paper pants you occasionally get given at massage parlours — but it's unlikely you'll be storing them in these long term anyway.
Upon decanting the pans from their panty bags, my initial reaction was one of pure heartfelt wonderment; they look amazing.
The brand, and part-owner Gordon Ramsay, have gone to great lengths to position these as high-end pans, and they certainly look the part.
If you squint a bit the signature makes the surface of the pans look a little like carbon fibre, and the stainless steel handles and trims contrast beautifully with the grey-black cooking surfaces.
Whoever's job it was to design how these pans look has hit their brief; they look expensive, sleek and hi-tech.
The box also contains a set of paper instructions, which an old-fashioned part of me quite likes in a world increasingly full of products that simply come accompanied by a QR code.
The instructions themselves are remarkably straightforward; it's simply a mini-booklet with easy-to-follow directions on how to season and clean your pan.
Hexclad review: performance
I've been fairly satisfied with the performance of my .
I've been using them for over a month now, and have made eggs, steaks, chicken, fried rice, and a whole smorgasbord of other foods that have tested the pans' non-stick capabilities as well as their ability to sear food.
The biggest revelation for me has been their versatility; it's great to have a version of non-stick that I can use with metal utensils and that generally can stand up to the level of chaos that accompanies me when I'm in the kitchen.
However, I think it's important to emphasise that this is a version of non-stick.
In my experience, at least, you can't get away with not using oil when cooking with Hexclad. As the test pictured below illustrates, cooking an egg without oil results in nothing but a split yolk.
That's not personally an issue for me — I like to fry my eggs in hot oil so the edges go crispy and lacy, and scramble eggs in enough butter to start a small dairy — but if you're a nonstick devotee, then this might take some adjustment.
This is the only test where the outright failed, though, and I was mostly happy with its performance everywhere else.
I've especially come to love the 30cm frying pan, which is big enough to make a meal for four people while getting a proper sear on meat (often, if you try and pack loads of meat into a frying pan, it'll steam rather than fry).
Heat distribution is also impressive, and all of the meat I've cooked has cooked evenly.
And while the pans aren't exactly featherlight, I've been surprised at how easy it is to pick them up and toss food, considering they feature two layers of stainless steel.
It helps that the handle doesn't get super hot, allowing you to pick up the pan with ease. And as someone who has burned their hand picking up hot cookware more times than I care to disclose, this is a feature I'm especially thankful for.
The only thing I don't love it for is searing steak. For the purpose of this review I have done it once, but I like to cook steak quickly at the highest possible heat that my gas hob will go to, which risks damaging the non-stick surface.
I did manage to get a pretty good sear at a slightly lower heat, but I find cooking steak stressful enough without worrying that I'm destroying an expensive pan while doing so.
In the future, I'll probably stick to my cast iron, which gets a perfect sear and can withstand super-high heat.
For the same reason, I've found myself only rarely using the wok. Woks are usually designed to cook quickly over very high heat, so having one that can't withstand high temperatures does limit how much I can use it.
Is Hexclad non-toxic?
Here, we've reached something of a controversial topic.
Hexclad does claim that its pans are non-toxic, and they do not contain PFOA, a substance that used to be popular in non-stick cookware that has been proven to be harmful to both human health and the environment.
In recent years, there has been increasing opposition to PFAs — the family of chemicals PFOAs belong to, which are considered "forever chemicals" — and while there is currently no legislation banning them in the UK, there is in the US, and our government is under pressure to prohibit them, while many manufacturers have moved away from using them.
The non-stick coating that sits within each of the tiny stainless steel hexagons on contains a substance called polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), which is also used in Teflon products.
The use of PTFEs has also raised questions, and is the case with the discourse around many things these days, there's a lot of alarmism on one side, and a lot of denial on the other; some people think PTFEs are as bad as PFAs, while others think they're basically fine.
The answer comes down to the heat you use.
Government agencies such as the USA's Food and Drug Administration (FDA) tend to agree that cookware containing PTFEs are safe to use up to around 260 degrees, at which point the non-stick coating begins to break down, releasing toxic chemicals, which when consumed can lead to mild symptoms often nicknamed "Teflon flu".
In summary, Hexclad is safe to use as long as you are careful with the heat you're using; don't put it into an oven above 260 degrees (my oven personally doesn't go that high) and be careful when using your hob on a really high heat.
What is Hexclad made of?
are impressively constructed, although this is the minimum I'd expect considering their price point.
Their makeup comprises a "tri-ply" structure; there is a layer of aluminium, which is the element of the pan that conducts heat, sandwiched between two sheets of stainless steel, which distributes the heat evenly across the pan.
You might think that this would make them extremely heavy, but the heaviest item in the 13-piece set I tested, a 30cm wok, only weighs 2kg. I had no issue picking it up and tossing food, and I'm not particularly strong.
The surface of the pan itself is dominated by the eponymous slightly-raised hexagon pattern, which is made from steel and protects the non-stick layer from becoming scratched or damaged.
I noticed a couple of surface scratches on the 30cmpan, which is the piece of cookware I've used the most, but Hexclad assures in its FAQs that these are purely cosmetic and don't affect the pan's performance.
How to clean a Hexclad pan
Another huge upside of Hexclad pans is how easy they are to clean.
Unlike most non-stick pans, you can feel free to have at them with a or , and Hexclad even says you can use abrasive stain removers like .
I've not had to use such drastic methods to clean my pans; I've found the abrasive side of a normal dish sponge is the most violent method of cleaning I've had to use.
My only small complaint here is that the silver detailing on the frying pan gets easily stained by spitting oil, but this isn't too hard to keep on top of.
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The verdict
In summary, here's what I think of Hexclad pans:
- If you have the money to spare and you're after a set of non-stick pans that are more durable than most, I'd recommend these. If you are going to buy a set, I'd do it now during the brand's
- If you want to try out Hexclad but don't want to splash out on a full set, I'd tell you to buy the which I have found myself using more than any other piece in the set.
- If neither of these situations applies to you, I would probably save your money and buy a good cast iron, stainless steel pan and non-stick separately.