Chinese Yam and Lamb Kidney Soup，From *Proven Tea, Decoction, and Soup Recipes for Common Ailments*,Warms and tonifies kidney yang. Suitable for infertility caused by kidney yang deficiency.
given the warm nature, caution is advised if the tongue is red with scant coating or there is tidal fever and night sweats; warming tonics readily stir heat and burden the spleen; caution is advised where dampness-heat or food stagnation accumulates in the middle
Commentary
Chinese yam occupies the sovereign position; with neutral nature and sweet flavor, having Spleen, Lung, Kidney tropism, it tonifies the spleen and lung, nourishes the kidney and astringes essence and becomes the guiding principle of the whole formula. The ministerial layer, sheep kidneys (nature warm, flavor sweet, channeled into the Kidney, tonifies kidney qi and benefits essence and marrow), and ginger (warm in nature and pungent in flavor, with Lung, Spleen, Stomach tropism, disperses cold, relieves cough and harmonizes the stomach), lends support that reinforces the sovereign’s main effect. Finished with scallions, 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.