Cock's Combs at Casa Mono

I don't recall whether I simply read it somewhere or heard it from Andrew Zimmern on the Travel Channel's Bizarre Foods Show, but my expectations were that cock's combs would prove to be something like chicken feet without the mess and ugliness of spitting out a lot of bones.

Perhaps, but the cock's combs pictured above, which Mrs. Yi and I enjoyed for lunch recently in Manhattan at Casa Mono, 52 Irving Place, had absorbed enough salinity and flavor from the cepes (similar to porcini) mushroom broth in which they'd been slowly braised, as to dominate. Regardless, simply to know that Mario Batali and Joseph Bastianich were responsible was enough to convince me that I was not likely to find better
prepared cock's combs anywhere. Don't hold me as to the garnish, but I suspect that Italian parsley and the minced carrots are what you see.

Casa Mono's stupendous Razor Clams a la Plancha was featured in the most recent Unique Culinary Adventures post. Unfortunately, I missed the opportunity to photograph Mrs. Yi's Duck Egg with Mojama, the latter item a prized genre of Spanish salt cured tuna. I had better luck getting a shot of the Piquillo Peppers with Oxtails, as pictured at right. Beneath the piquillo peppers is oxtail meat severed from the bone and chopped after braising.