Mix-frying with wine

Stir-frying with wine. Usually, yellow wine, such as Shaoxing rice wine, is used, but white grain liquor is also used on occasions. Wine is acrid, sweet, and very hot. It can conduct medicinals upward, reduce the cold nature of medicinalsand can quicken the blood and free the network vessels. Also, wine is an excellent organic solvent: alkaloids and volatile oils all easily dissolve in it. Mix-frying in wine thus helps to release active constituents, thereby increasing the effectiveness of medication. It also serves to removes fishy or putrid smells. Medicinals processed in this way include scutellaria (Scutellariae Radix, 黄芩 huáng qín), rhubarb (Rhei Radix et Rhizoma, 大黄 dà huáng), and white peony (Paeoniae Radix Alba, 白芍药 bái sháo yào).

Method Yellow wine is first sprinkled over the materials, which are then left to stand covered for a while to allow the wine to soak in. Afterwards, they are transferred to the wok where they are continuously stirred over a low flame until they turn to a pale yellow and the aroma of the materials can be smelled. Another method is to sprinkle the wine over the materials after they have been heated over a low flame and continue stir-frying until the aroma of the materials can be smelled. The duration of frying and the size of flame should not be excessive. Smell and color are good guides. Frying should cease before any burnt smell arises and before any change of color occurs inside the materials. The amount of wine used depends on the material. Generally, it is 60–90g for 500g of materials.