Pepperpot is a Guyanese dish that is the pride and joy of the country. It is made by cooking a combination of beef and pork together with a unique Guyanese ingredient, Cassareep.
Recipe Origins
To make Pepperpot, beef and pork are stewed together for a few hours, alongside spicy peppers, cinnamon sticks, cloves, thyme, and more.
The unique thing about Pepperpot is that it is best when eaten a few days after making it. Cassareep, the main ingredient in the dish, acts as a natural preservative for the stew, meaning that you can continue to eat it long after a normal stew would have gone bad.
Pepperpot is the national dish of Guyana, and was popularized by the Amerinidans of the country. It is now a Christmas tradition in Guyana, with many people making the dish a few days beforehand so that they can enjoy the strengthened flavor on Christmas morning, alongside a slice of plait bread.
Why Make this Recipe
- “Travel” to Guyana: Guyana is a beautiful country, but it’s not always easy to visit! If you want to try experiencing Guyana, making Pepperpot at home is a great way to do so.
- A New Christmas Tradition: I love seeing how other people celebrate their favorite holidays. Making Pepperpot at home is a great way to add a new Christmas tradition into your life!
- Try a New Ingredient: It’s so easy to get trapped in the same-old-same-old when it comes to recipes. And even when I’m trying something new, it almost always has the same ingredients I’ve always used. This recipe, at least for me, used an entirely new ingredient that I had never even heard of before! And it was so fun to switch it up.
What Do I Need to Make this Recipe?
Here is a visual overview of the ingredients in the recipe. Scroll down to the recipe at the bottom for quantities.
- Celery Leaves: I bought a stalk of celery and pulled the leaves from the top of the celery plants for this dish
- Cassareep: See information below
- Scotch Bonnet Pepper: I was not able to find scotch bonnet peppers. If you can’t find it, you can substitute habanero peppers or use a scotch bonnet pepper sauce to taste.
- Meat: See FAQ question below for help choosing your meat.
What is Cassareep?
I had never heard of cassareep before making this dish, but now that I’ve experimented with it, I’d love to learn more uses for it!
The thick brown sauce is made from cassava. The kind of cassava used to make cassareep is bitter, and, without being processed, actually contains cyanide! The cassava is grated and then the juices are squeezed out of it, which are then boiled with sugar.
The resulting product is thick like molasses and is a deep black color. The color threw me off at first, but it does make for a delicious flavor in the stew!
I bought my cassareep from Amazon, which was the only place I was able to find it.
How to Make this Recipe
Step 1: Marinate
Blend together the onion, thyme, and garlic until a paste is formed.
In a large pot, add the meats, the herb paste, and the cassareep.
Use your hands to mix it together. Let it sit for a half an hour.
Step 2: Prep the Dish
Then add the sugar. Mix again to combine.
On top of the pot, add the orange peel, cinnamon stick, cloves, thyme, pepper, ½ tsp salt, and scotch bonnet pepper (or scotch bonnet pepper sauce). Mix again.
Step 3: Cook
Put it on medium to low heat and allow it to cook (covered) in its own juices for about 25 minutes.
Then, add water (hot, already boiled) until the meat is covered. Cover it and let it cook for another hour and a half (2 hours total) until it has thickened and the meat is tender. You may need to cook it longer for the meat to be tender, and that is okay.
Add salt to taste at the end. Enjoy!
Expert Tips
- Make this dish about 2-3 days before you actually want to eat it. The flavor typically enhances the longer the dish has been around, so the older the better.
- Pepperpot is typically served with bread, especially Guyanese Plait Bread. It’s a type of bread similar to challah, but it doesn’t include any egg.
- Some Guyanese Pepperpot recipes call for the garlic, onions etc. Other people say that adding these ingredients detract from the overall dish. Either method works and is completely up to you.
Recipe FAQs
I can almost guarantee you that you’ll never read instructions like this on my blog again, but here we go:
Cassareep acts as a natural preservative in this dish, which means that, although the dish is made with meat, you don’t need to store it in the fridge.
You can leave the pepperpot on the stove for almost two weeks, just be sure to reheat it to a boil every morning!
I had a really hard time researching this. Most recipes called for “beef” or “pork” without much insight into what cuts of each meat I should be looking for.
I did see a few notes that oxtail or cow heel would work, as well as chuck roast, pig feet, goat, or beef short ribs.
I used cubed pork butt in my pepperpot along with some stew beef, but I do wish that I would have chosen at least one type of meat that was on the bone (probably short ribs).
From reading tons of articles and watching many YouTube videos, it seems that the type of meat used in the dish is pretty forgiving, and everyone that makes this dish uses a different blend that works well for them.
Did you enjoy this Guyanese Pepperpot Recipe? If so, make sure to check out these other recipes I picked out for you:
- Zigni (Beef Stew) from Eritrea
- Argentinian Beef Stew in a Pumpkin
- Pepian de Pollo from Guatemala
- Instant Pot Turkey Breast Recipe
If you make this recipe at home, leave a review/comment on this post letting us know what you thought!
And don’t forget to share a photo of your finished product on Facebook and Instagram and tag @TheForeignFork and hashtag #TheForeignFork.
Guyanese Pepperpot
Equipment
- Large Pot
- Spoon or Spatula
Ingredients
- 1 small White Onion
- 6 cloves garlic
- 3 Celery leaves
- 2 lb pork butt, Cubed
- 1.5 lb stew beef, Cubed
- ¾ cup cassareep
- ¼ cup Brown Sugar
- 4 inches orange peel
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 6 cloves
- 6 sprigs Fresh Thyme
- ¼ tsp Black pepper
- 1 tsp Salt, divided
- 1 Scotch Bonnet Pepper
Instructions
- Blend together 1 small onion, 6 cloves garlic, and 3 celery leaves until a paste is formed.
- In a large pot, add the meats (2 lb cubed pork butt and 1.5 lb cubed stew beef), the herb paste, and the ¾ cup cassareep. Use your hands to mix it together. Let it sit for a half an hour.
- Then add ¼ cup brown sugar. Mix again to combine.
- On top of the pot, add 4 inches of orange peel, 1 cinnamon stick, 6 cloves, 6 sprigs fresh thyme, ¼ tsp black pepper, ½ tsp salt, and 1 scotch bonnet pepper (or scotch bonnet pepper sauce). Mix again.
- Put it on medium to low heat and allow it to cook (covered) in its own juices for about 25 minutes.
- Then, add water (hot, already boiled) until the meat is covered. Cover it and let it cook for another hour and a half (2 hours total) until it has thickened and the meat is tender. You may need to cook it longer for the meat to be tender, and that is okay.
- Add salt to taste at the end. Enjoy!
Notes
- Celery Leaves: I bought a stalk of celery and pulled the leaves from the top of the celery plants for this dish
- Cassareep: See information above.
- Scotch Bonnet Pepper: I was not able to find scotch bonnet peppers. If you can’t find it, you can substitute habanero peppers or use a scotch bonnet pepper sauce to taste.
- Meat: See FAQ question above for help choosing your meat.
- Make this dish about 2-3 days before you actually want to eat it. The flavor typically enhances the longer the dish has been around, so the older the better.
- Pepperpot is typically served with bread, especially Guyanese Plait Bread. It’s a type of bread similar to challah, but it doesn’t include any egg.
- Some Guyanese Pepperpot recipes call for the garlic, onions etc. Other people say that adding these ingredients detract from the overall dish. Either method works and is completely up to you.
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