My first attempt with the Anova with two 1 inch thick ribeye steaks. I placed each steak in separate bags and made sure the steaks weren’t overlapping in the pot. The steaks were only seasoned with salt and pepper.
I set the Anova using the medium setting (139.5F for 1 hour) as my wife and young kids preferred medium cooked steaks. However when I took the steaks out after an hour, both steaks were still very bloody and more like medium rare.
Any advice as to why the steaks were not cooked to medium as they should have with that setting ? I put them back in for another 20 minutes and they were closer to medium.
First of all, are you SURE they were bloody? Because the meat is sealed under vacuum it is normal for it to retain a more pink colour and you cannot judge doneness by colour because of this. Did you use a thermometer to verify they were actually not 139.5F?
Were they frozen? You need to add 30mins to the time if so.
Did you allow the Anova to come up to temperature before putting the meat in?
Was there much air in the bag? This can prevent heat transfer.
Lastly, check the temperature calibration. Set the Anova to varying temperatures and verify with a thermometer you know is accurate.
The temperature of the steaks before cooking will have an input on the time they take to come up to temperature too, as Solieus suggests. Although they may not ave been frozen if they were straight from the fridge it will take them longer to come to temp than if they were at ambient temperature.