Guyanese Pepperpot (2024)

Pepperpot, a national dish of Guyana, is a delightful meat-based stew, rich with braised beef and infused with cinnamon, clove, thyme, and wiri wiri peppers, a small red pepper that's native to Guyana and is prized for its bright and spicy punch. Although not traditional to many pepperpot recipes, this version calls for nutmeg for an added layer of spice complexity. Pepperpot is traditionally eaten on Christmas morning for breakfast alongside Guyanese plait bread, a braided white bread similar in appearance to challah but without the shiny egg-washed crust.

Pepperpot is defined in large part by the inclusion of cassareep, a thick, black liquid (the reason pepperpot stew is dark) that has the same consistency as molasses and is made from the bitter juices of the cassava. The process of making cassareep involves grating the poisonous and bitter cassava root, then stuffing it into a flexible, cylindrical basket called a matapee. All the juices of the grated cassava are squeezed out into a container or bucket, which are then carefully boiled, to both deactivate the poison and reduce the juices to a thick black syrup. Cassareep is found in every Guyanese home, where it's used as a browning agent to prepare many different dishes such as stews.

Cassareep is highly shelf-stable, able to be kept for many years without spoiling. My mom would always joke that my grandmother’s cassareep was kept for “donkey's years,” which is a British way of saying a very long time. A large pot of pepperpot also tends to be left out, often on the stove for weeks without going to waste. To avoid spoilage, Guyanese home cooks reheat pepperpot a couple times each day, morning and evening until the last bowlful is eaten, to kill off any microorganisms that might be beginning to establish themselves. I've always found that as the stew sits and is warmed every day, it tastes better over time.

The process of making pepperpot generally takes at least a few hours to cook depending on your choices of meat. Beef, pork, and mutton (sheep) are some of the more popular meats for making pepperpot, though you have many options. My favorite way to enjoy pepperpot is with a combination of oxtails, beef, and cow foot (collagen-rich cuts like cow foot, head, and heel are popular inclusions, as they enrich and thicken the stew's consistency as their natural high levels of collagen melt into lip-sticking gelatin). For this recipe, each meat is pressured separately due to their various cooking times then combined into one big pot.

The taste of pepperpot itself is more on the sweet side but it does have a balance between sweet and savory. This dish is unlike any other in the world. As the name implies, pepperpot is also spicy. Now every Guyanese prepares the spices and heat level to their personal preference. Wiri Wiri pepper is a Guyanese chili pepper and is one of the main peppers used in Guyana. It is a small round pepper that is spicy and unique in smell; for most Guyanese this is what is added to pepperpot for the heat. If you do not have access to this pepper, a great substitute is Scotch bonnet pepper.

Waking up to the sweet aroma of pepperpot and freshly baked bread as a young girl in Guyana is so nostalgic. Christmas morning my grandmother would have the table set with bowls of pepperpot for the entire family then in the center of the table there was freshly baked plait bread. To top it off, she would always make hot cups of Nestle's malted Milo drink to accompany the meal; this was pure bliss for me. Before that morning, I would dream about dipping my bread into the pepperpot surrounded by loved ones. These are the wonderful memories that made Christmas so special and memorable to me. I am happy that I get to pass down such a wonderful tradition.

Pepperpot is popular in other Caribbean countries such as Antigua and Trinidad and Tobago. However, Guyanese pepperpot should not be compared or confused with any other pepperpot from different parts of the Caribbean, as it differs in appearance and preparation. There is no pepperpot like a Guyanese pepperpot; it is true to Guyana. It is our pride and joy as we continue to celebrate the first people that migrated to Guyana.

March 2022