hey all! I tried to research this on my own, but I saw too many conflicting opinions…(my replacement Anova arrived from Amazon, and it circulates! yay!) I’m going to go out and get a couple of nice, 1 1/2-2" ribeye steaks. I want to cook them medium rare using my Anova. I’ve seen varying settings for the temp to be set on the sous vide, so I’m thinking 130* for 1 hour? Is this a good setting for two med-rare steaks? Thanks!
Jen, that replacemnet was quick.
The generally accepted doneness standards for steak temperatures are the following:
Rare 125ᴼF
Medium-Rare 130ᴼF
Medium 140ᴼF
The heating time to achieve a uniform temperature throughout your steaks will always depend on their thickness. One hour won’t do it. If they are a little less than 2-inches thick about 3 hours will provide you with an optimum outcome.
At first it’s difficullt to abandon conventional cooking experience when you begin using the SV technique. With the relatively low temperatures employed in SV it’s understanable that it will require longer times for heat to defuse throughout meat products than in conventional techniques. Thickness is critical to setting your cooking times.
Chatnoir pretty much covered it, the only thing I would add is that SV is pretty forgiving with regards to cooking time compared to traditional methods. Think of it like a Crock pot, everything takes a while but it won’t hurt if you go a couple hours over. Don’t leave it overnight or anything, at that point you probably risk rendering too much fat out and it’ll probably be dry. As it turns out, you actually can overcook food with SV despite what some may tell you. (Learned that one the hard way.) 
Jen, - just as you wisely thought, you will quickly become a competent SV cook by avoiding opinion and using factual information. There is a lot of misinformation and guesswork based opinion on the net.
The source i most often recommend is this science-based work by Douglas Baldwin, PhD.
That is a great link, chatnoir! Chock full of very usefull information! I’m thinking of buying the cookbook, also. Thank you so much for taking the time to help out a sous vide novice. It’s much appreciated!
The new circulator got here a day earlier than I thought! I bought the original one from Amazon, and when I sent the return request, Amazon immediately sent me a new one. I sent them the defective circulator. Thanks for your help!
Yep, I can see that it has a learning curve. Much like I had to get myself used to the Instantpot cooking food fast, I must now get myself used to cooking food slow! I like the way the Anova frees me up while it’s cooking. Thank you so much for replying and helping, it’s much appreciated!
One more item, Jen.
Starting right away keep a detailed record of every cook. I use a hard covered journal. Some cooks use their computer. It’s the details that count.
Here’s what i record.
Menu item name, - Thickness, - Temperature, - Time cooked, - Outcome.
“Outcome” refers to comments or a critical evaluation of the result and reccomendation for improvement next time.
This way you will always be able to precisely replicate your successes and you will have a solid plan next time for how to improve the almost-successes.
Ahhh ,good idea! I bought an inexpensive binder to keep sous vide recipes that I found, a journal is a good idea!
I like my Ribeyes for 3-4 hrs at 133 F.
You are a Quick-start cook, good going Jen.
With your journal entries resist the initial temptation to record weights. It’s easy because there they are right on the meat package from the store, but not useful. Only thickness is critical to precision cooking.
And be certain to record your detailed journal comments.
Thanks for your reply, Fishchris. Why do you prefer that time and temp?
Comes out medium rare, and very tender, every time 
Sounds great!