Dinner · 180 min · caribbean

Guyanese Pepperpot

A Caribbean dinner built around beef chuck and oxtails — on the table in 180 minutes. Each serving lands at 580 calories with 42g of protein, so it eats like a much heavier meal. It scales cleanly if you are cooking for more than one.

✓ USDA-verified nutrition data

Ingredients

• 2 lb Beef chuck
• 1.5 lb Oxtails
• 0.5 cup Cassareep
• 1 tsp Cinnamon
• 4 Cloves
• 2 tbsp Brown sugar
• 1 Scotch bonnet pepper
• 2 tsp Fresh thyme
• 6 cups Water

Steps

1. Combine everything except the sugar in a heavy pot — cassareep, the reduced bitter-cassava syrup, is the soul of pepperpot. It preserves the meat and gives the stew its dark, complex sweetness. No cassareep, no pepperpot.
2. Bring to a boil, then simmer covered for 2.5 hours, until the meats are falling apart and the sauce is thick and glossy.
3. Stir in the brown sugar and simmer 15 minutes more. The sauce should coat a spoon like syrup.
4. Rest 20 minutes off the heat. Pepperpot improves as it sits — traditionally the pot is kept going for days, with meat added as needed.
5. Serve over rice or with dense Guyanese plait bread for sopping. Guyana’s national dish, traditionally eaten at Christmas morning.

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