History
Developed in the mid-1970s in France by chef Georges Pralus who was looking for a way to reduce product loss when cooking foie gras. Pralus found that by cooking foie gras sous vide, he was able to achieve much higher yield and improved texture.

Advantages of the Sous Vide Cooking Method

• Food cannot be overcooked, as it is heated exactly to desired core temperature.  This is especially helpful when using expensive ingredients like Kobe/Wagyu beef or fois gras. 
• Significantly reduces  product loss from cooking producing higher yields.
• Because food is vacuum sealed in a pouch, nutrients, flavor, and fat cannot escape as it would with other cooking methods.  As such, significantly less oil and fat is required, making for a healthier end product. With the exception of salt, less seasoning is also generally required. 
•  “Set it and forget it” – Once food is placed in a cooking bath, the chef or cook can leave it cook unmonitored and can focus on other tasks.  When service is required, food can be removed from the bath, seared, and served.
• Repeatability – Once desired temperature and cooking time are established, a recipe can be exactly repeated with consistent results  every time.
• Unmatchable texture – cooking sous vide produces textural qualities that are unachievable with any other cooking method.
• Increased productivity - allows you to more efficiently balance work load by preparing sous vide dishes in advance and reheating them when demand is high -- without altering taste, texture, or consistency.

Another Arrow in the Chef’s Quiver

In the same way that a chef does not deep-fry or microwave every recipe in his kitchen, sous vide cooking does not replace other cooking methods; it compliments them.  The technique has been around for nearly four decades but has only recently reemerged due to the availability of equipment such as PolyScience Thermal Circulators that allow chefs to use the technique correctly and with ease; maintaining a pan of simmering water at just the right temperature is a very time-consuming and inaccurate process.  Also, without circulation of the cooking liquid, hot and cool zones develop that adversely affect the cooking process.
All of a chef’s culinary knowledge and training will be required when cooking sous vide; the act of cooking is simple – chill, vacuum seal, cook, sear, and serve.  However, it is up to the individual to develop recipes, cooking times, and temperatures.  Sous vide is often complimented by sautéing, grilling, or broiling to expose exterior proteins to high heat.

Safety

As with anything in the kitchen, safe food handling procedures are required when cooking sous vide.  Vacuum sealing food DOES NOT make it impervious to bacterial growth; in fact, under certain conditions some bacteria actually thrive in the anaerobic (oxygen-free) environment created by vacuum sealing.  Therefore, always use high-quality ingredients from a reputable source. Food must always be refrigerated at safe temperatures and should, when possible, be seared before sealing to eliminate surface bacteria