anyone here do Chinese medicine cooking? It’s hard to find stuff online about. I think there’s at least a few books in English, I got one today: A Spoolful of Ginger by Nina Simonds; it’s pan-asian and mentions other similar books. Yet it’s mostly about yin/yang foods and mentions only basic spices.
I’m not in Taiwan anymore. I keep thinking of this amazing vegetarian hotpot I had at Hui Lui. All I can remember (it was maybe 1.5+ years ago) was it had lots of root vegetables and was red probably from beets.
I was hoping for more soup recipes, maybe a Chinese borscht.
I made a Chicken hot pot today taking some a recipe with oyster sauce and adding stuff like gingko nut, tea, and some bag of Chinese medicine soup. It turned out decent.
Hi Gary -
I don’t know where in the States you are, but most all “Asian” markets now have pre-packaged Chinese “medicine” recipes ready to go.
Just cook the ingredients with your soup and you are good-to-go. Some are even in their own “tea-bag” to make it even easier.
If you can’t read Chinese, I can’t, you can usually ask the store to help you or do a funny mime act (don’t knock it, I’ve done this for years) to help you get the mixture for the results you hope to obtain.
Then just cook your chicken, duck, pork or beef with the herbs.
Yes I’ve seen those and used one today. I was hoping to really learn about Chinese medicine and eventually make my own mixes. There’s tons of books out there, just gotta get 'em.
I used to have a copy of both, but they’re not here at the moment. I seem to recall he used botanical names for the Chinese herbs and may not have included the Chinese, which would be a real drag if you were hitting a Chinese store for the herbs. Better check them out. Alternatively, it is very easy to do a search on a botanical name and turn up the Chinese.
I’ll check out those books. I’m not afraid of complicated and very technical details. I’m trying to learn as much as I can. It seems with these few books, I should be able to check references and find more.
I’ll be in China soon and then it could get expensive ordering all these.
I wish there was a Chinese Larousse Gastronomique. Maybe a collection of books could work out.
If you haven’t seen the book, On Food and Cooking, check it out. It’s all about food chemistry.
By the way, if you are going to be in China soon, may as well buy books there. There is usually a good collection of books concerning Chinese medicine as food in English in any decent book shop They’ll be much cheaper.
Seems like it. No need for books published outside China; there should be plenty from China in English. I should be able to also talk to tons of medicine shops. Can’t wait.
I made Borscht today and put it in some astragalus. I might start putting Chinese medicine in everything.
Be sure to check what the herbs are for, and the counter-indications. There are some herbs you simply are not supposed to mix and others are also highly toxic.
[quote=“Huang Guang Chen”]Be sure to check what the herbs are for, and the counter-indications. There are some herbs you simply are not supposed to mix and others are also highly toxic.
HG[/quote]
I should do that. I was reading about some of the herbs and it seems I should be more careful with some of them. Astralagus seems to be warming in specific ways. For the winter, it seems good. There are probably a lot of common mixtures that people often use. With those, I’m not sure if they’re safe to use regularly. Maybe figuring out whether I need yin or yang foods and then mix accordingly seems like a way.
I’m all with experimenting like they did back in the day when they discovered these medicines. We’ll see what happens.
Never assume because they are herbs they are safe. Some Chinese “herbs” are mercury oxide (cinnabar), for example, or ephedrine (ma huang) and aconite (fu zi). The latter kills several people each year.
More recently a fairly common herb was found to screw your kidneys. Fangji, or assarum was found to have seriously damaged many a kidney in a 1997 Belgium weight loss formula. itmonline.org/arts/asarum.htm
[quote=“Huang Guang Chen”]Be sure to check what the herbs are for, and the counter-indications. There are some herbs you simply are not supposed to mix and others are also highly toxic.
HG[/quote]Gary -
Good advice here. When starting out its very easy to become intrigued with the aromas, tastes and combinations you think are “really neat.”
Keep in mind that the use of herbs in Chinese medicine (CM) has quite a long history of experimentation and observed results. In short - They’ve already tried every combination you think is new and either decided it was effective for a specific set of results…or was a waste of time & herb.
Think of it as a ‘Flow-Chart’ process:
Problem (what you want to help/improve) -> diagnosis (whats wrong & why)-> recommendation (do this/eat this/drink this/exercise and it will fix you up)-> preparation (here is how you do it)-> take the cure (do as the recommendation proscribe) -> desired improvement/cure.
As you probably know, or are discovering, these concoctions have a many leveled framework of desired results. Some are for the seasonal change, some for older people, younger people, men, women, skeletal injuries or strengthening, organ specific, circulation…a host of reasons and application.
And some just happen to taste good also!
And as HGC mentions, some are deadly both alone and in improper combination.
Fortunately most of the commonly used herbs are relatively benign unless you have an existing condition that deserves special attention.
For example - Licorice is used a an element in a number of TCM formulas - however it is contra-indicated for those who have high blood pressure. So a benign alternative should be substituted.
[quote=“TainanCowboy”]…
And as HGC mentions, some are deadly both alone and in improper combination.
Fortunately most of the commonly used herbs are relatively benign unless you have an existing condition that deserves special attention.
[/quote]
That’s what I figure. Most of the stuff commonly used should be safe. No doubt, I will read more about it as go along. It is hard to resist trying stuff out.
My wife’s dad was a Chinese medicine doctor. As TC explained above, these remedies are time-tested. Also, certain doctors get good reputations and their products are emulated by others (which can make for a lot of confusion if you are an outsider!) My wife’s dad was quite reputable… pretty much everyone in Da Liao township, Kaohsiung county knew who he was.
There’s three of his medicines which are in regular use at our house. Two of these are very labor intensive to make, have proprietary recipes and are expensive to buy. My mother inlaw continues to make these two remedies and they sell very well.
However, the third is a tonic tea made from three or four easy to obtain ingredients. Easy to make, tastes faintly like raisins, aids the immune system. I’d be happy to share the recipe with anyone who wants it.
If anyone knows about this stuff I have a question about angelica.
I sometimes make shao jiu ji at home and the recipe includes (among other things) angelica (dang gui). A friend told me guys shouldn’t eat this stuff or they turn into females or something dramatic. Is there anything in this? I realize I am unlikely to actually become female but can too much angelica containing soup really mess up your hormones? Shao jiu ji also contains ginseng which I thought was a male potency thing. I’d figure the two would balance each other out, though perhaps it doesn’t work that way.
I also use angelica in rou gu cha (Bak Kut Teh). The recipes just say ‘a piece’, so I just toss whatever sized piece I have available in. The stuff I buy comes in chunks of root (rather than thin slices like ‘chuan xiong’ and other things do). The chunks are usually about the size of a walnut.
I don’t cook this stuff for health reasons. I just like the taste of herbal soups. Most restaurants don’t do them well so recently I started making them myself.
The recipes I found online are vague about quantities though. The herbs are often expressed in vague ‘pieces’ and ‘slices’ rather than specific weights.
[quote=“Salvatore Armani”]There’s three of his medicines which are in regular use at our house. Two of these are very labor intensive to make …
However, the third is a tonic tea made from three or four easy to obtain ingredients. Easy to make, tastes faintly like raisins, aids the immune system. I’d be happy to share the recipe with anyone who wants it.[/quote]
The recipe would be great. Anything you could list would be very helpful. Even if they’re a list of ingredients, I’d be happy to know the name and research them myself.
I think there are studies of Chinese medicine that show much of it sold is not so great in quality and ineffective.
[quote=“Kiwi”]If anyone knows about this stuff I have a question about angelica.
I sometimes make shao jiu ji at home and the recipe includes (among other things) angelica (dang gui). A friend told me guys shouldn’t eat this stuff or they turn into females or something dramatic. Is there anything in this? [/quote]
Angelica seems to be traditionally used for female hormone and estrogenic regulation. I took a quick look at PubMed; there are tons of studies–one even for nicotine sensitivity. Some studies suggest it can inhibit testosterine. Perhaps that’s not always bad. Is it supposed to be yin nourishing? More reading of PubMed is a good idea.
It’s even used as flavoring for Chartreuse, a good French liqueur.
I was reading about some of the herbs and it seems I should be more careful with some of them. Astralagus seems to be warming in specific ways. For the winter, it seems good. There are probably a lot of common mixtures that people often use. With those, I’m not sure if they’re safe to use regularly. Maybe figuring out whether I need yin or yang foods and then mix accordingly seems like a way.