Dog Meat Soup，From *Proven Tea, Decoction, and Soup Recipes for Common Ailments*,Nourishes the kidneys and enhances virility. Suitable for erectile dysfunction caused by kidney yang deficiency.
because it runs warm overall, this decoction is best avoided in yin-deficient, fire-prone constitutions; the tonifying-warming action may aggravate internal heat; avoid during feverish or inflammatory episodes
Commentary
At the head stands Dog meat, the sovereign, with warm nature and salty flavor, having Spleen, Stomach, Kidney tropism; it tonifies the middle, boosts qi, and warms kidney yang, underpinning the principal thrust of the decoction. These are joined ministerially by cinnamon bark (nature hot, flavor pungent, sweet, channeled into the Kidney, Spleen, Heart, Liver, tonifies fire and assists yang, dispels cold, and warms the meridians), and ginger (with warm nature and pungent flavor, having Lung, Spleen, Stomach tropism, disperses cold, relieves cough and harmonizes the stomach), reinforcing the sovereign’s main effect. Finished with cooking wine, acting as the envoy to harmonize the various ingredients, the formula attains a regulated, neither-excess nor-deficient balance. Together the herbs converge on this action, in accord with the yang deficiency pattern.