It is said that those who enjoy their work truly never work a day in their lives.

For Piedmont native Prudence Hilburn, her greatest works over the years have come from her life’s passion – cooking.

Hilburn’s story is one that’s widely known through the Piedmont community. Her cooking is talked about like works of art. She has contributed food columns for The Anniston Star and The New York Times Regional Wire Service for years and she has studied under some of the best chefs the world has known.

Still, one of Piedmont’s most well known icons has no intention of slowing down.

Hilburn is currently working on her 11th cookbook, titled Let’s Party With Ease and Enjoyment.

While the recipes are what make her cookbooks and columns what they are, Hilburn says that this book has more to do with the overall presentation of the party.

“I think that it’s not particularly the recipe or the food,” Hilburn said. “But it’s the preparation. To me, you should pick your recipes very carefully. If the hostess is also the cook, she needs to pick recipes that can be prepared ahead so she can enjoy the party as well.”

Hilburn also has a section in the new book that gives tips on how to entertain party guests with ease.

Despite working on an 11th book, Hilburn says she always has more ideas for another one.

One of Hilburn’s cookbooks that was never published took on a personal touch for her late husband.

After Hilburn moved to New York to attend one of the country’s best cooking schools, she left her husband a three-ring binder of recipes that were easy to cook.

“He said you need to make a cookbook that college students, new brides and men that live alone could use,” Hilburn said. “That’s always been in the back of my mind.”

Hilburn’s reputation has exceeded far beyond the reaches of Piedmont and even Calhoun County. Rarely does a day go by that her phone doesn’t ring with a question or a request for a recipe. In this era of technology, emails are even more common.

“When I started writing articles for the paper, they asked me what my goal was. I said that my goal was to get people back into the kitchen. In order to do that, I’ve got to give them recipes that they would really want to try.

Hilburn says that people often find recipes with a long list of ingredients or an ingredient that’s hard to find and it turns people off from cooking.

“Most of my recipes are simple and easy,” she said. “One of the best compliments I ever received was a phone call I received from a lady that said ‘the one thing I like about your recipes is that they’re not intimidating.’”

Hilburn’s family, like most that are heavily influenced by the happenings in the kitchen, have developed the same knack for cooking.

“I have one daughter that really enjoys cooking,” Hilburn said. “The other two can cook really well, but they cook out of necessity.”

Hilburn’s love of cooking has found its way through her children, grandchildren and even into her great granddaughter, Maddie.

Hilburn says that she will pull up a little stool for her Maddie to sit on so she can help with the ingredients of the recipe.

“She loves to cook,” Hilburn said of her four-year old apprentice. “She’s a lot like I am in one way. She’s always thinking of what else we could do with a recipe. I was making a salad for a class I was teaching and she asked what else we could do. I asked her what she thought and she said ‘maybe some vinegar.’ When I asked her if she thought vinegar would help, she said ‘it’s just an idea.’”