Born in Louisiana, Built for Every Kitchen
We started Laplace to share the food we grew up eating -- real Cajun and Creole cooking that doesn't cut corners.
A Family Kitchen That Went Online
Laplace Louisiana Cookery started in 2019 as a weekend project. Our founder, Celeste Thibodaux, grew up in Laplace, Louisiana -- a small town on the west bank of Lake Pontchartrain, halfway between New Orleans and Baton Rouge and ground zero for authentic Cajun cooking.
When Celeste moved to Hillsborough, North Carolina, she found herself craving the food she grew up on and realizing that most online "Cajun" recipes were watered-down imitations. So she started writing down her grandmother's recipes, tested them in her own kitchen, and began publishing them online.
Today, Laplace Louisiana Cookery is a full recipe subscription platform with 115 authentic dishes -- from breakfast beignets to duck confit gumbo -- and a curated shop of the exact kitchen tools we use every day. Every recipe has been tested multiple times in a real home kitchen, not a food lab.
What We Stand For
Authenticity First
Every recipe traces back to a real Louisiana kitchen. We don't substitute, simplify, or water down for mass appeal.
Tested Thoroughly
No recipe is published until it has been cooked and refined at least three times in a real home kitchen with real home equipment.
Community Driven
Our subscribers shape our content. We read every email and add the recipes our community asks for.
Always Learning
Cajun and Creole cooking is a living tradition. We study its history and evolution and bring those insights to every recipe we write.
The People Behind Every Recipe
Celeste Thibodaux
Celeste grew up in Laplace, Louisiana cooking alongside her grandmother. After 12 years as a professional pastry chef in New Orleans, she moved to Hillsborough and started Laplace Louisiana Cookery to preserve the food traditions she grew up with. Her gumbo has won three parish cook-offs.
Antoine Broussard
Antoine is a Lafayette, Louisiana native and fifth-generation Cajun cook. He specializes in traditional techniques -- roux-making, andouille smoking, and crawfish trap-to-table cooking. Antoine contributes all our deep-Cajun country recipes and our acclaimed roux masterclass.
Marguerite Fontenot
Marguerite trained at the French Pastry School in Chicago before returning to Louisiana to run her family bakery in Breaux Bridge. Her expertise in French-Cajun pastry, beignets, and praline desserts shapes the entire dessert section of our recipe collection.
Delphine Arceneaux
Delphine spent six years as a line cook at Commander's Palace in New Orleans before transitioning to recipe development. She tests every dish in our catalog a minimum of three times before publication, with a specialty in Creole seafood and classic New Orleans brunch.
Samuel Guidry
Samuel holds a degree in nutritional science from LSU and has worked in food safety inspection in Louisiana for eight years. He reviews every recipe for accurate calorie estimates and food safety guidance, and writes our food handling advisories.
Isabelle Trahan
Isabelle has been a culinary equipment buyer for 15 years, first for a restaurant supply company and then independently. She personally tests every product in our shop in her own home kitchen before recommending it to our subscribers. If Isabelle endorses it, it works.
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