Taylor Porter’s 33-Year Christmas Cookbook Tradition Featured in The Advocate

December 22, 2016

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The Taylor Porter 33-year tradition of the firm's women employees working up a "Christmas Cookbook" was featured in The Advocate, also highlighting a special inclusion this year of a chapter, “Flood Relief Cooking Team Crockpot Recipes.”

Following the August 2016 flooding, several employees volunteered to help their fellow co-workers by gutting homes, moving furniture, setting up an employee relief fund, and cooking and delivering meals. The recipes for those cooked meals are included in this year's cookbook. The cookbook is a proud internal Taylor Porter tradition that began back in 1984, and coincides every year with a TP Ladies internal Holiday Party where they make the recipes that are included in the cookbook.

​Legal secretary Julia Guilbeau, who has been at the law firm since 1979, has helped with the cookbook since its inception. Guilbeau said it coincides each year with the TP Ladies’ holiday party, where partygoers serve the recipes in the cookbook. The book, which is not for sale, is meant only for the enjoyment of the TP Ladies. “The attorneys always had a Christmas party of their own, so at some point, the staff decided to have its own get-together to cook and enjoy each other’s company,” she said. She thinks the cookbook began after some partygoers asked for the recipes of their favorite dishes. “It’s amazing to look back. The first one was typed with an old-fashioned typewriter on red paper. I submitted my mom’s shrimp jambalaya recipe,” Guilbeau said.

Through the years, different staff members have compiled the recipes. Some book covers feature hand-drawn artwork, and usually the recipes are organized by category. The first book had 36 pages with an index. The books generally have at least two dozen recipes. Desserts and appetizers are the most popular categories. “After the flooding, the book got bigger and has gotten a resurgence,” she said.

Dale Gray, who organized this year’s cookbook, agreed.

“This is our biggest book in a long time. A lot of people have been here 30-plus years and were saying they didn’t know any more recipes, but this year we wanted to make something special,” Gray said.

There are 65 recipes in this year’s book, including 15 in the section called “Taylor Porter’s Flood Relief Cooking Team Crockpot Recipes and More!”

Gray, who’s been at the law firm for 20 years, said the women "all take turns designing the cookbook. If one person does it, she gets burned out. I did the design for three years.”

This year, Molly Longo handled the book’s design, but Gray continues to coordinate it.

“My sole job is to get recipes in. (Contributors) always wait until the last minute. We have people who have lived out of state and in different areas of Louisiana, so we get diverse recipes from around the country," Gray said. "Most are not original recipes, but we do put our little twist on what we come with.”

The peanut butter fudge recipe in the book’s flood section is her grandmother’s recipe, Gray said. “A favorite recipe that everyone wanted to have is Clarese Reed’s white beans with sausage. I think it’s her own recipe.”

​Gray added: “We would package meals in the afternoon so we could send them home (with the affected employees),” Gray said. “We packaged them with paper plates and plastic utensils. They didn’t have time to be washing dishes if they even had them. Most didn’t have anything.”

This year’s 70-page cookbook closes with thank-you notes from those helped by the cooking team. Among them are: “The food has been absolutely delicious.” “I’m overwhelmed by the generosity of the firm, attorneys and staff.” “That each of you would take the time to prepare homemade meals is wonderful.”

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