BOOK REVIEW : 2 Cute 2 Be Cooked : THE VIVID FLAVORS COOKBOOK, <i> By Robert Wemischner (Lowell House: $25; 302 pp.)</i>

Want to put a straightforward, simple meal on the table in as little time as possible? Then don’t buy this cookbook.

Want to putter in the kitchen, explore bold and unusual flavors, cram your pantry with pomegranate concentrate, Chinkiang vinegar, asafetida and achiote seeds? Then buy this book.

Wemischner thrives on complexity and experimentation. He’s mad about ingredients the average cook has never heard of. He dotes on cross-cultural dishes such as “arugula ‘Caesar’ (salad) with polenta croutons.” And he adores cutesy recipe titles like “gosh garnet it’s turkey” (turkey legs in a sauce colored with pomegranate concentrate), “muncha buncha mungs” (bean sprouts in lime-ginger marinade) and “my fave favas” (fava beans with charred red pepper in lemon-yogurt dressing).

A chatty writer, Wemischner embellishes recipes with lots of commentary and throws in graphic aids like purple blocks of copy called flavor flashes. He’d never organize a book in the conventional way, from appetizers to desserts. His recipes go into categories such as “Pleasantly Puckery,” “Perfectly Pungent” and “Intentionally Intense,” each with its own glossary of key ingredients.

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Fancy window dressing aside, there are interesting ideas in this book. And one can extract usable sub-recipes from some of the dishes. One could, for example, make just the aubergines (eggplant) from charbroiled chicken with Afghan aubergines or just the chicken, which is flavored with a homemade spice rub.

And one could cheat by roasting the chicken breasts for “very nearly Vietnamese salad” rather than smoking them in a wok as Wemischner instructs. Or one could use just one kind of cabbage instead of the three called for in “nutty chiffonade of crunchy cabbage.”

Formerly owner of Le Grand Buffet, a gourmet shop in Beverly Hills, Wemischner now teaches in the professional baking program at Los Angeles Trade Technical College. He’s a visionary cook but down to earth in writing recipes. They’re clear and complete, and each includes serving suggestions, which is important when you are dealing with food that is out of the ordinary.