Associations seem to allow ->finds like these:
class Recipe extends AppModel {
var $hasOne = 'User';
}
class User extends AppModel {
var $hasMany = 'Recipe';
}
$this->User->Recipe->find('all', array('conditions' => array('cooking_time <' => '30 mins.'));
Who knew?! This automatically does a Left Join of User on Recipe. Note to self: Find a code snippet formatter/style for Blogspot! :-(