Yes - This is a thing, I'm not making it up - you can use mayonnaise to pop a wicked sear on your sous vide items. Here's how it's done.

First, I want to let you know that if you notice a pink highlight to my photos in this post, and posts to come, it is because I am growing a blood orange tree on my kitchen counter. You're seeing the grow light - it's not a problem with my gear.

Ok - now - Mayo Sear! 

The idea is simple, because its smoke point is higher than butter, you can use mayo to get a decent sear on your sous vide treats. I've done it in the past with mixed results, and I'll explain.

I'm doing some prep work on a few different styles of roast beef for the Big Game tomorrow, and for some of it, I used a huge chunk of sirloin that I got from BJs Wholesale. Sorry no pic, but I slowly worked my way through the sinew to separate the weird piece into a nice big roast and a few smaller ones.

 All of that was one large piece of meat, and it took time, but I trimmed it up nice, right? The trick is a super sharp boning knife. It helps you get under the sinew and clean things up, working between the different muscles with ease. I got this one on Amazon for like $18. Super sharp, super helpful.

I took one of the smaller roasts and decided I was going to eat it tonight, while the bigger pieces cooked overnight in their 132 degree water-bath. But I dropped the small piece in with the other roasts, so I could cook it sous vide as well! 

I always cover my sous vide pot with aluminum foil to minimize evaporation and enhance overall efficiency of the unit. I've also been getting in the habit of dropping a thermometer in as well. The reason for that, is because I've had a few occasions where the display on the unit said one thing, but it had malfunctioned and was actually cooking at near boiling! Whack. Another reason for the aluminum foil - keeping steam out of the unit. 

So just like always, you take the steak out of the vacuum pack, and blot it dry as you can with a paper towel. 

Weird looking steak, right?  oh well. Now it's time for some MAYO! 

BLOOOOOP!

Smear it all in - ! I only do one side, and I'll do the other side in the pan. 

Then it's time to get the pan ripping hot - I always like to get the pan hot enough that if I press my thumb on the pan's handle near where it meets the pan, I can feel the extreme heat. I put just a light dollop of vegetable oil in - I'm not sure if you need to, but I do. 

Then it's time to sear! I drop it in the pan, and quickly smear more mayo while it sizzles away!

Then I go for the flip!

Wow - look at that sear! looks really good, right? Well - kind of. Because of the weird shape of this piece of meat, it really didn't make as good of contact as say a NY Strip or Delmonico. I rolled it around the best I could, and did some spoon-basting as well to try and crisp the sides up. (hard to document one-handed - I tilt the pan like you see in other videos and things.)

Ok - showtime: what do you think?

Cooked perfectly, right?

This steak was super good! The flavor of the mayo is different than oils or butter, and to be honest, I prefer oil/butter basting over this technique. I also think I put too much on, because there were a couple bites that were soft, not crispy. So, maybe use a brush rather than spoon to get your mayo in place.

I will try it again, but not with a wonky piece of beef. I feel that the one I did in the past turned out better but I guess I'll have to do it again to know for sure. Definitely nice to not worry about the smoke in the house - which is one of the main reasons for this move.. that, and to be ridiculous too - which is always fun.

Cheers everyone!