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Guyanese

Guyanese pepperpot

Non-vegetarian

Guyana's national dish: beef slow-stewed in dark, bittersweet cassareep with cinnamon, cloves and hot wiri wiri peppers until meltingly tender. Made for Christmas morning and eaten with plait bread.

Guyanese pepperpot is a Guyanese stew from Guyana, ready in about 3 hours 15 minutes and made with beef chuck, cassareep and fresh red chilli. It serves 8 and is rated easy to cook.

Start cooking
Bowl of dark, glossy Guyanese pepperpot meat stew
Photo: Simon Abrams from Brooklyn, USA / Wikimedia Commons · CC-BY-2.0
Prep
15 min
Cook
3 h
Total
3 h 15 min
Serves
8
Level
Easy
Calories
294

Ingredients

8 servings

Equipment

Method

  1. Step 1

    Rinse the meat with water and lime (opens in a new tab) juice and drain.

    • 5 min

  2. Step 2

    Put the meat in a heavy pot with the water, bring to a boil and skim off any foam.

  3. Step 3

    Add the cassareep (opens in a new tab), onion (opens in a new tab), garlic (opens in a new tab), thyme (opens in a new tab), cinnamon (opens in a new tab), cloves (opens in a new tab), orange (opens in a new tab) peel, peppers, sugar and salt. Cover and simmer gently for 2½–3 hours, stirring occasionally, until the beef is very tender and the sauce is dark, glossy and slightly thick.

    • 170 min
    • low heat
    A curry simmering in a pot
    How it looks · Photo: Bachir Mamud on Pexels

  4. Step 4

    Taste and adjust salt and sugar. Pepperpot improves overnight — make it a day ahead if you can.

    • 2 min

About this dish

Origin
Guyana · Well documentedCassareep comes from Indigenous Amerindian cooking in Guyana.More food from Guyana
Dish
Breakfast · Lunch · Dinner · Stews & braises · Main courses
Cooking method
Stewed, Slow-cooked
Taste
sweet & savoury, spicy (chilli heat), aromatic / warmly spiced, bitter
Diet
No gluten ingredients · Dairy-free · No nut ingredients · High-protein
All labelsNon-vegetarian · No gluten ingredients · Dairy-free · Egg-free · No nut ingredients · Alcohol-free · Pork-free · High-protein · Low-fat · Calorie-conscious
Worked out from the ingredients. How labels work
Good for
One-pot · Festive & celebration · Make-ahead · Freezer-friendly
Cook more with
Beef chuck · Fresh red chilli · Lime · Onion · Garlic · Thyme (fresh)
Techniques
Boiling · Simmering · Stewing · Stock making

Allergens

None of the 14 major allergens appear in the listed ingredients.

Based on typical versions of these ingredients and not verified allergen-free. Brands differ and cross-contact happens, so always check labels. For severe allergies, follow your clinician’s advice.

Nutrition

294 kcal per serving

Estimated

1 serving ≈ 396 g · recipe makes 8

Where the energy comes from

  • Protein 44%
  • Carbohydrate 35%
  • Fat 20%
Nutrition per serving and per 100 g
NutrientPer servingPer 100 g*
Energy294 kcal74 kcal
Protein33.1 g8.4 g
Carbohydrate26.6 g6.7 g
Net carbohydrate25.6 g6.5 g
Sugars23.1 g5.8 g
Added sugars3.3 g0.8 g
Fibre1 g0.3 g
Fat6.8 g1.7 g
Saturated fat2.8 g0.7 g
Trans fat——
Cholesterol96 mg24 mg
Sodium718 mg181 mg
Salt equivalent1.8 g0.5 g
Vitamins & minerals per serving
Potassium
979 mg
Calcium
114 mg
Iron
4.7 mg
Magnesium
101 mg
Vitamin A (RAE)
5 µg
Vitamin C
8 mg
Vitamin D
0.2 µg
Vitamin B12
3.5 µg
Folate (DFE)
9 µg

How these numbers were made

  • Calculated from USDA FoodData Central (SR Legacy) per-100 g values and the listed quantities.
  • *Per 100 g of combined raw ingredients; the cooked dish may weigh more or less.
  • Optional ingredients are not included: orange.
  • Cassareep: Molasses (FDC 168820) used as a stand-in; cassareep is a dark, bittersweet syrup of reduced cassava juice with no FDC entry.
  • “—” means the value isn’t known for enough of the ingredients; it is never zero by default.
  • Values are estimates for guidance, not for medical dosing. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. fdc.nal.usda.gov.

Good to know

Tips

  • Traditionally the pot is boiled up daily and kept for days; cassareep's preservative qualities made this possible, but modern food safety says refrigerate.

Serve with

  • With Guyanese plait bread or soft white bread to mop up the sauce, or with rice or roti.

Food safety

  • Cassareep does not make pepperpot safe at room temperature: cool and refrigerate within 2 hours, and bring it back to a full boil each time it is reheated.

Storage

  • Refrigerate up to 5 days or freeze for 3 months.

Reheating

  • Bring back to a full simmer before serving.

Original editorial recipe · FriendsPantry editorial · Not yet independently reviewed · Added · Updated

Recipe DNA

How this dish is built

Grouped by each ingredient’s role in the dish. Each band’s width is its share of the dish by weight. Choose a component to see what it does.

What the dish is built around

Main ingredient

  • Beef chuck, large chunks; include some oxtail or cow heel if you can1200 g
  • Lime1 piece · 67 g
  • Orange, peel only, in strips (optional)1 piece · 130 g
  • Fresh red chilli, whole3 piece · 18 g
Used in steps 1, 3

Reviews & corrections

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