~594 cal · 59g protein · 7g carbs · 34g fat (estimated, per serving)
🍽️
Dark glossy meat stew with cinnamon and pepper, bread alongside
🇬🇾 Demerara (Georgetown)
Pepperpot comes from the Indigenous Amerindian peoples of Guyana, preserved by cassareep — the bitter cassava reduction that lets a pot be reheated for days. It’s the taste of Guyanese Christmas morning, eaten with plaited bread.
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Make it yours
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
Ingredients
Serves 6 —
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3 lbs beef + oxtail (or stewing beef)
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1/2 cup cassareep — the essential cassava reduction, from Caribbean markets
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2 cinnamon sticks
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6 cloves
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2 wiri wiri or Scotch bonnet peppers, whole
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2 tbsp brown sugar
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1 strip orange peel
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4 sprigs thyme
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for 6 plaited bread or crusty bread, to serve
Instructions
1
Cover the beef (or mushrooms and jackfruit) with water and bring to a simmer, skimming.
2
Add the cassareep, cinnamon, cloves, whole peppers, sugar, orange peel, and thyme.
3
Simmer low, lid ajar, 2.5 hours (45 minutes for the plant version) until the meat is tender and the sauce turns deep glossy black.
4
Fish out the whole peppers before they burst (unless you dare). Season with salt.
5
Rest overnight if you can — pepperpot famously deepens each day it’s reheated. Serve with bread to sop the dark gravy.
Demerara Amerindian-rooted tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers — know your destination
📍
Demerara (Georgetown). Where pepperpot simmers from Christmas Eve to New Year.
🗺️
Guyana. Where the Caribbean meets the Amazon in one pot.
🌍
South America. Andes, Amazon, and Atlantic all on one plate.
The story behind this dish is up top — worth a read while the pot works.
👩🍳
Richard Moore & Kelsey Tucker
Recipes cooked, tested, and researched by the creators of Spin the Globe. How we build our recipes →
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