The great thing about sous vide cooking is that it gives you really precise control over cooking temperatures, and thereby over the texture of meats and fish in particular, which is very sensitive to temperature. My understanding is that Georges Pralus developed the initial sous vide method in the early 1970s as a way for Troisgros to reduce shrinkage in foie gras; and Bruno Goussault worked out how to apply it more generally and toward the goal of better quality products. Each refers jokingly to himself as the ‘pope’ of sous vide!
I don’t know about equipment costs, but I’m told you can find good water baths and circulating heaters on Ebay. I also don’t know exactly who has embraced sous vide, but the ones I’m aware of include Thomas Keller, Charlie Trotter, Michel Richard, Wylie Dufresne, Eric Ziebold, David Kinch, Heston Blumenthal . . .
Harold | 
To sous vide or not to sous vide, That is the question 
