Carmen valldejuli biography

Her upbringing exposed her to the rich, diverse flavors of the island's cuisine.
Valldejuli was born in 1912 (or 1918), less than two decades after the 1898 United States occupation of Puerto Rico.
Follow Carmen Aboy Valldej́uli and explore their bibliography from Amazon's Carmen Aboy Valldej́uli Author Page.

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Residencia Aboy-Lompré

Historic house in San Juan, Puerto Rico

United States historic place

The Aboy-Lompré Residence (Spanish: Residencia Aboy-Lompré), also known as the Aboy House (Casa Aboy), is a historic house built in San Juan, Puerto Rico between 1910 and 1912 for the Aboy-Ferrer Family. The house now hosts several cultural and religious institutions including the Shaare Zedeck Synagogue and the Jewish Community Center of Puerto Rico,^[2] and a photojournalism museum.

Design and architecture

The design for Casa Aboy was the product of various architects, among them Antonin Nechodoma, a disciple of Frank Lloyd Wright. Nechodoma, who moved to Puerto Rico around 1905, used a tropical style of architecture which became popular in the island. Puerto Rican architect Miguel Ferrer and engineer Francisco Pons also worked on the property's design with the purpose of taking advantage of the north breezes and natural light of the location. Pons and Ferrer hired Frank B. Hatch, who had worked with Nechodoma, also put some of his ideas in the design

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Ha llegado inesperadamente un amigo, el cual se quedará a comer. ¡¡¡Qué problema!!! ¡¡¡Qué aturdimiento!!!
Y a esto yo contesto: ¡Nada de eso! Manos a la obra, y mientras el esposo lo obsequia con un “cocktail” o “highball”, nosotras hábilmente, sin carreras ni precipitaciones, preparamos un menú sencillo y atractivo.
– Carmen Aboy Valldejuli, Ideas de Menus para Invitados Inesperados in “Cocina Criolla”

The 1950s was a period of economic, societal and political changes in Puerto Rico. The decade brought the establishment of Puerto Rico’s current political status as a commonwealth of the U.S., and the adoption of its constitution and flag. This was also an era of political turmoil and government repression.

Amidst these changes, Carmen Aboy Valldejuli published the first edition of Cocina Criolla, in 1954. This cookbook has been used and cherished by many through different generations, this despite other cookbooks written during that time (including the 1950 Cocine a Gusto) and since then. Why is Valldejuli’s book the one with staying power in our culinary imaginations

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Carmen Aboy Valldejuli

Carmen Aboy Valldejuli is, according to New York Times food critic Craig Claiborne, “the foremost authority on Puerto Rican cooking,” whose cookbooks are “the definitive books on island cooking.”

A daughter of one of Puerto Rico’s most distinguished families, Carmen Aboy Valldejuli, born Aboy Ferrer, is niece of the late Monsita Ferrer, the well-known pianist and composer, and cousin of actor/director Jose Ferrer. Brought up in old Spanish traditions that deemed cooking a menial household chore, Valldejuli did not have the opportunity to discover the joys of creating a meal. Her husband, Luis Valldejuli, was a mechanical engineer by profession, but a gourmet at heart. Their marriage in 1936 launched a lifelong adventure of collecting and developing recipes representative of Puerto Rican cookery.

Mrs. Valldejuli hoped that all readers would eventually wend their way to Puerto Rico to sample the island’s delicacies in the land of their origin. In the meantime, she was certain that the recipes in her books