Has anyone mayo seared pork chops?
Asking the question once will usually suffice, but the mayo sear will work on anything that you apply it to.
I tried mayo sear with T-bone. Results sucked. I must be doing something wrong.
What kind of ‘sucked’ do you mean? Too much mayo? Pan not hot enough? Steak not dry enough before mayo application? Unsuitable (eggless) mayo?
Tell us what you did and what the outcome was so we can help.
I followed the instructions here precisely:
Want a wicked sear? Grab the mayonnaise! – Anova Culinary
The only difference in what I did was using a ceramic skillet (Extrema). I never use mayo, instead use Miracle Whip, but to do this correctly, I made a special trip to the grocery and found mayonnaise - the real, original, Kraft version. Following the advice of one of the commenters, I applied the mayo to the top side of the steak about 10 seconds after I started the bottom side searing. I have to admit, that if I can’t find a way to give my steaks a good sear, I will not be using sous vide for steaks ever again. I even bought a special propane torch that had been recommended. Good steaks are too expensive to have such a meh result in the sear no matter what method I choose to sear it. And, no, I’m not going to heat and mess up my grill just so I can get the sear that I won’t. If I have to do that, I’ll just fix a nice juicy steak on the grill and skip the sous vide prep time.
…so I can get the sear that I won’t
“want” …not “won’t”.
You can’t blame the Anova for your inability to meet your searing expectations. Like most skills, a quality sear requires practice to develop. The mayo sear seen as is a bit of a shortcut on developing those skills, but it still requires practice for perfection.
Didn’t say I was blaming the Anovo. Just frustrated about the quality of the sear. Thus far I’ve used a propane torch, the ceramic skillet (100% ceramic), a regular skillet, and the cast iron grates on my Cuisinart grill set for 500 degrees. Next time, I’ll take down my smoke detector, turn on all the vents, let the skillet smoke for a couple of minutes, and throw the steak in there. The skillet was smoking a little when I used the mayo sear, but perhaps not enough.
I applied a translucent layer of mayo. I used the original Kraft mayo, not eggless. I paper toweled dried the steak prior to searing. The Xtrema skillet I used is as heavy as any cast iron skillet, maybe heavier, so it holds on to heat. It has to be that I’m not letting the pan get hot enough, even though it’s smoking (but not a lot of smoke).
I’ve never used a ceramic skillet. But smoking would be caused by residual oil/fat in pan. A clean, dry pan will not smoke. It sounds like you need to heat your pan for longer. I’m inclined to light the burner under my skillet before I take the meat from the bath.
I don’t bother with mayo as I get a satisfactory sear without it on cast iron or carbon steel. I don’t have an exhaust fan or range hood and very rarely set off smoke detectors.
Persevere. You will get there.
I always put a little avocado oil in the skillet when I sear. It sticks like the devil if I don’t. So, is that what I’m doing wrong - oiling the skillet?
I usually add a bit of Avocado oil to sears in my cast iron, but since mayo has oil as part of its makeup you might be able to skip additional oil for your “mayo sear”. Be warned that this is just a guess on my part at this point! I’ve not yet tried it! 
Try oiling the meat rather than the skillet. The smoke comes from burning excess oil, not from burning meat. It doesn’t take much oil.
OK, I’ll try that next. I thought the meat was supposed to be dry, and to my brain, that meant no oil.
No. Oil is considered dry as it’s not water soluble.
Here’s a mind-flip. Confit is considered a dry cooking method because the fat/oil acts as a moisture barrier.
Hi @Dru
It might help to picture how the water reacts to the hot pan as opposed to how the oil reacts. The water turns to steam - 212F (100C) and acts as a relatively cool buffer between the pan and the meat until it has all vaporized. The oil on the other hand heats up to the same temp as the pan and allows that heat to easily transfer into the meat.
I visualize that layer of steam created by the water as sort of a thin layer of insulation between the pan and the meat.
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This makes perfect sense. I have a large t-bone thawing now.
I find that ceramic skillets and other non-stick skillets are unsuitable for searing. They don’t get hot enough and, if you do manage to get it very hot you ruin the non-stick performance of the skillet. Cast iron is best, but a cast aluminum griddle will do.
Dru, do as you wish, but if you are going to fairly judge a recipe always precisely follow the recipe all the way.
SV cooking offers cooks a lot of flexibility in times and temperatures to achieve consistently superior results, but it also requires careful attention to detail.
I am not familiar with most ceramic skillets, including Xtrema, because they are not compatible with the induction cooktop i use. I do know that they are slow to heat and require low temperature settings to avoid cracking them which makes them inappropriate for searing meat.