In Ristorante Taverna La Fenice, which has to be one of the prettiest and most romantic places in Venice, they serve an ancient recipe for slowly cooking the meat from of the spine of beef called le secoe. This dish is totally delicious: a cloud of cheesy potato on a rich beef stew. Traditionally this is eaten with risotto but here the chef served it in the bottom of a martini glass and topped it with foamed mashed potato which had Parmesan in it. The restaurant has served mainly meat dishes, as an alternative to the mainly fish restaurants, to opera singers and enthusiasts from the opera house, Teatro La Fenice, for generations; Maria Callas was a regular. There is even a secret passage connecting the restaurant to the theatre for the use of the artists.
It is hard to buy spine these days but really any cut that will break down slowly is ideal. So cheaper cuts of beef that we should be making more of are perfect for this dish. We have used beef neck, and sometimes beef cheeks, both of which render a rich flavour and soft meat after a few hours in the oven.