 In Italy "cervella fritte" is a popular dish made of bite-sized batter-fried morsels of beef brain.Beef brains have a mushy texture and very little inherent flavor and are typically flavored with sauces such as chile sauce and sauce ravigote.Outbreaks of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE, commonly known as mad-cow disease) led to legislation to reduce risks of contracting the human variant of the illness by consumption of beef brains and spines.