Pepperpot

Pepperpot is a meat stew, usually beef, pork or mutton, often using cuts like feet and tail. The meat cooks slowly, for hours, with cinnamon, clove and wiri wiri pepper, and takes on the dark color and sweet‑sour flavor of cassareep.

Cassareep is what makes pepperpot. It is made from the juice of bitter cassava: the root is peeled and grated, and the pulp is squeezed in a matapee, a woven press. The collected juice is left to settle, strained and boiled over an open fire for about two hours, until it thickens to a molasses‑like consistency. Boiling is essential: bitter cassava contains substances that, when in contact with water, form a toxic gas that evaporates with heat. At the end, clove, cinnamon or salt may be added.

According to the Guyana Chronicle, it was the Indigenous peoples of the land that would become Guyana who discovered that the bitter cassava liquid preserves food. Cassareep preserves the meat: pepperpot is cooked in a large pot and can be reheated and eaten over several days.

The dish is part of Guyanese Christmas, alongside garlic pork and black cake. The same newspaper notes that the origin of this association with Christmas is uncertain. On the morning of December 25, pepperpot is usually served with dense homemade bread, but also with rice, boiled cassava or cassava bread.