I received my Anova from mail today and I am so excited to sous vide my first ribeye to impress my family.
I downloaded the android app and started to look into cooking temp and time. I understand that the cooking time depends on the doness and thickness of the meat. According to the app, the cook time for medium and 1 inch or less is about 40 minutes. What confuses me is that I watch many Youtubes and read some posts in here, some of the post says they cook beef for 12, 24, 48 and even 72 hours, why such a long time? For thicker meat, I can see it might take 4 or 6 hours but 24 and more?
The longer cooking times are for what are known as secondary cuts of meat, such as chuck steak, that need the longer times to break down and become tender enough to eat. I regularly cook chuck steaks for 2 or 3 days. Prime cuts such as ribeye really only need between 1 and 4 hours.
Simon is correct. If the meat is tough short ribs, brisket, chuck, etc the long cooking time will break down the connective tissue resulting in a tender meal. The expensive tender cuts do not need the long time as they are already tender. When searching for suggested times include the cut of meat.
