The Hyde Park Cook Book “could perhaps be more accurately titled ‘a handbook of useful observations for an inept cook, collected from an indefinite number [of] Hyde Park student[s] and residents,’” Leslie Strauss Travis, AB’73, writes in the prologue. The slim, staple-bound booklet, designed by Roger Black, EX’70, was part of the 1970 yearBox.

At the time, “David [Travis, AB’71] and I were living on the third floor in Kenwood, and I was cooking on a hot plate and washing dishes in a bathtub,” Strauss Travis says.

The cookbook includes the usual sections—meat, fish, soup, vegetables, bread, desserts—as well as one page of “spectaculars.” The three spectacular recipes: Quiche Lorraine, Chocolate Mousse, and Lame Duck or Chem Lab Cocktail (more commonly known as SVNA Punch). Other culinary highlights:

Chicken Flavored Nail Soup: “Just before serving, add the nail. Whoever gets the nail gets to do the dishes.”

Meatloaf: “I do not even like meatloaf. So there is no recipe for meatloaf here. Ask your mother for one. She has one. Write it here.” (Below this, a blank box.)

Leftover Mashed Potatoes: “Do not throw leftover mashed potatoes away.” Make potato patties out of them, fry them, and “serve them to the same people the next night.”

Salad: “Chop up everything and put it together.” (That’s it. That’s the recipe.)

Wacky Cake: “All the mixing is done in the pan you use to bake the cake.”