Guyanese Pepperpot with Beef Chuck

Ingredients

• 3½ lb Beef Chuck, cut into 2-inch chunks
• 1 lb oxtail or pork trotter, for body
• ⅔ cup cassareep
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• 6 whole cloves
• 2 tbsp brown sugar
• 2 scotch bonnets, whole
• 1 tbsp grated ginger
• 1 onion, quartered
• 6 cloves garlic, smashed
• 2 strips orange peel
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• 5 cups water
• Salt and black pepper
• Plait bread, for serving

Method

1. Season the meats hard with salt and pepper and leave them uncovered in the fridge for an hour to dry the surface. Dry meat browns; wet meat sweats.
2. Brown the Beef Chuck and oxtail in a dry heavy pot in batches over high heat until darkly crusted, 10 minutes total. There is no oil in a traditional pepperpot — the meat renders its own.
3. Add the water, cassareep, brown sugar, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, garlic, onion, orange peel, thyme, and the whole scotch bonnets. Bring to a bare simmer.
4. Cook uncovered on the lowest heat for 2½ to 3 hours. Skim the surface twice in the first hour. The liquid should reduce by half and turn nearly black and syrupy.
5. It is ready when the oxtail collagen has dissolved into the sauce and a spoon dragged along the bottom leaves a lacquered streak. Remove the peppers, cinnamon, and peel.
6. Cool completely and refrigerate overnight — pepperpot is one of the few stews that genuinely tastes different on day two. Reheat to a full boil before serving with plait bread.