Searching4Zen

Welcome to Searching4Zen, a recipe sharing and blog discussing adventures in Food & Wine, Travel and Cycling. We hope you will register with us and share your comments.

  • Thaitanic Beef

    45 mins
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    In a city abundantly sprinkled with Thai restaurants, Thep Phanom consistently ranks at the top of the list. On a side street in the Lower Haight, its gracious service, pleasant setting, and excellent food mean that you’ll almost always have to wait for a table. But the wait is worth it for such multi-flavored dishes […]

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  • San Francisco–Style Garlic Noodles

    30 to 45 mins
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    Total Time 30 to 45 minutes These noodles, adapted from the cookbook “The Wok” by J. Kenji López-Alt are based on the noodle dish originally created and served by Helene An at San Francisco’s Thanh Long restaurant, are extraordinarily simple and delicious on their own. A small amount of raw minced garlic added at the […]

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  • Cheeseburgers (Tavern Style)

    20 mins
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    Total Time 20 minutes Here is a cheeseburger you might find in taverns and bars, plump and juicy, with a thick char that gives way to tender, medium-rare meat. It is best cooked in a heavy, cast-iron skillet slicked with oil or fat. Ask a butcher for coarse-ground chuck steak, with at least a 20 […]

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  • Pumpkin Spice Ice Cream (Not Too Sweet)

    2 hrs
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    A rich egg-custard base with warming pumpkin spices for natural sweetness and a scoop-able, soft texture. Ingredients Glucose syrup 50g | ¼ cup Brown Sugar 150g | ¾ cup Cream 350g | 1 ½ cup Milk 400g | 2 cups Egg yolks 150g | about 6 large yolks Cornstarch 10g | 1 tablespoon plus 1 […]

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  • Slow-Cooker Hoisin Garlic Chicken

    2 ½ hours
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    Ingredients  2 ½ pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs or meaty chicken pieces as bone in thighs and legs making up about 3 ½ pounds with bones and skins 2 tablespoons hoisin sauce 4 tablespoons Tamari sauce 12 large garlic cloves, smashed and chopped 2 tablespoons tomato paste 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar, plus more as needed […]

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  • Beer-Can Chicken Thighs

    1 hour
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    Ingredients 1 can light lager 4 to 5 medium chicken thighs 2 tablespoons 4-3-2-1 Spice Rub Special equipment: A foil baking pan (for drip pan) Instructions Pour out (or drink) half of beer. Prepare grill for high, indirect heat and fit with grill pan with 1 burner turned off and place drip pan over unlit […]

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  • Vanilla Ice Cream With Chocolate and Peanut Butter Swirls

    2 ½ hours
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    Ingredients For the Vanilla Ice Cream Base Glucose syrup (5%) 50g | ¼ cup Brown Sugar (15%) 150g | ¾ cup Cream (30%) 300g | 1 ½ cups Milk (40%) 400g | 2 cups Egg yolks (10%) 100g | about 4 large yolks Cornstarch 10g | 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon, mixed with 40g | […]

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  • Etto Trombe with Sugo Tartufo

    30 mins
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    Ingredients Splash of white wine (or more for the cook’s beverage of choice) 2 tablespoons butter 1 small onion (minced) 5 garlic cloves (minced) ½ lb minced button mushrooms ½ jar Tartufata sauce (100 grams) ½ cup heavy cream 1 cup zested pecorino ¾ lb ETTO Trombe or type of dried fusilli or radiatore Pecorino […]

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  • Portobello Patty Melts

    1 hour
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    This is a traditional patty melt in all ways save the fact that the beef has been swapped out for roasted portobello-mushroom caps. It otherwise hews closely to the recipe served at Tiny Naylor’s drive-in restaurant in Los Angeles in the 1950s, and to the ones used in coffee shops and diners across the country. […]

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  • Crispy-Skin Salmon with Anchovy Butter and Caper Sauce

    20 mins
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    Notes to review before you commence: Salmon Quality Check: Ensure salmon smells clean (like the sea, not fishy), looks bright and shiny (not gray or dull), and is firm to the touch (not spongy). Run fingers against the scales to confirm proper scaling. Storage: Store salmon skin-side up in the fridge to allow air circulation […]

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