A Chicago chef shares secrets form his restaurant

Famous restaurant cookbooks are not rare, but good restaurant cookbooks are. The Bakery Restaurant Cookbook, published this month ($12.95, CBI Publishing Company, Boston), is an exceptional one, because the recipes have been written especially for the home cook and they have been tested by good cooks in their home kitchens.

One of the aims of the book is to provide recipes from Chef Louis Szathmary's restaurant in Chicago to people who have dined there and have asked for recipes of dishes they've enjoyed.

But you don't need years of practice to follow this author's approach to classical cooking. Nor do you need elaborate equipment and unusual ingredients. Both of these are oftenencountered stumbling blocks with recipes from restaurants.

The range of recipes in this book is comprehensive -- from hot and cold appetizers to the most elegant desserts. It is delightfully sophisticated but intensely practical.

This is Chef Louis's forth cookbook in the past |0 years and, as in his orders, he has added a special instruction or helpful hint, called Chef's Secret , at the end of each recipe. His other cookbooks are The Chef's Secret cookbook , the Chef's New Secret Cookbook, and American Gastronomy. He is also editor of a series of 27 American cookbooks in 15 volumes, Cookery Americana.

Educated as a journalist and psychologist in his native Hungary, Chef Louis has had a much-traveled life and has been a journalist, a soldier, and a lecturer as well as a food adventurer.

He belongs to all the top culinary associations and has won many culinary gold medals, awards, and honors. In addition to writing, broadcasting, and running his restaurant, he is also a consultant for large food companies.

In the new cookbook you will find Chef Louis's original recipes for:

* Pate Maison, made fresh at The Bakery, Louis's Chicago restaurant, every day.

* Roast Duckling served Hungarian style with a tart cherry sauce.

* Individual portions of Beef Wellington, the year-round favorite of more than half the restaurant's patrons.

* Chef Louis's own recipes for Herb Salad Dressing, SAuce Louis, and Hungarian Paprika "Ketchup."

Here is the first of a series of three excepts from the new cookbook, including the Chef's Secret: Clear Tomato Soup 2 pounds veal bones 1 coarsely chopped carrot 1 chopped parsley root or parsnip 1 cut-up celery rib 1/2 onion, unpeeled 5 to 6 black peppercorns 1 tablespoon salt 1 bay leaf 1 clove garlic 3 quarts water 3 tablespoon sugar 1 teaspoon butter 6-ounce can tomato paste 46-ounce can tomato juice 2 tablespoons dried dillweed 6 tablespoons cornstarch Fresh dillweed, if available Fresh lemon juice, sugar, and salt to taste Liquid from 2 ripe tomatoes, chopped and run through a blender Lemon slices for garnish

In large soup pot, place veal bones, carrot, parsley root or parsnip, celery, onion, peppercorns, salt, bay leaf, and garlic. add about 3 quarts of water. Cover and cook slowly at least 4 hours. The amount of stock should then be about 2 quarts. Strain stock into another pot and skim top if necessary.

Dissolve sugar in butter, heating until it starts to caramelize. Pour 1 quart of stock over butter-sugar mixture. Add tomato paste and tomato juice. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer.

Meanwhile, cool 2 cups of stock and bring another 2 cups to a boil. Sprinkle into boiling stock the tarragon and dillweed. Boil 2 minutes. Strain this stock, removing herbs into the simmering tomato soup.

Stir cornstarch into remaining cool stock and slowly pour mixture into simmering soup. this will make the soup syrupy-thick and clear.

Add chopped dill wee if you have fresh dill. Correct seasoning of soup with lemon juice, sugar, and salt. Pour liquid from ripe tomatoes into soup tureen and ladle hot soup over it. Serve immediately, garnished with lemon slice. Serves 12.

Chef's Secret: Adding sugar to the tomato juice and tomato paste brings out a fresh tomato flavor and reduces some of the acidity.

The addition of fresh lemon juice before serving adds a tang, and using cornstarch instead of flour as a thickening agent makes a translucent and syrupy soup that is very different from other tomato soups.

If you cannot buy realy ripe fresh tomatoes, keep the two tomatoes in a brown paper bag at room temperature overnight, then place them in a warm, if possible sunny, place for a few hours. Cut them crosswise and remove all seeds before blending. If they are not fully ripe, adding 1 extra tablespoon of sugar to them will improve their flavor.