Coda alla vaccinara is Rome's slow-cooked oxtail stew: braised for hours in red wine, tomato, celery and cocoa, served falling-off-the-bone with the gravy spooned over pasta or polenta.

Coda alla vaccinara is Testaccio's signature dish, born in the slaughterhouse quarter that gave the city its quinto quarto (fifth quarter) offal tradition. The vaccinari (slaughterhouse workers) took the unwanted oxtail home, slow-braising it in tomato, red wine, celery and pine nuts over a low fire for four hours. The cocoa addition (a small spoon of unsweetened cocoa stirred in at the end) is the Roman fingerprint that distinguishes the dish from a Tuscan or Lombard oxtail stew. Checchino dal 1887, Flavio al Velavevodetto and the Testaccio canon all serve canonical versions; the dish typically arrives with rigatoni or polenta to soak the gravy.

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