Lion's head is a traditional dish in the Huaiyang cuisine of Yangzhou and other places in Jiangsu Province, China. Legend has it that the practice of lion's head began in the Sui Dynasty, when Emperor Yang traveled to Yangzhou, he made four dishes of squirrel and cinnamon fish, money and shrimp cakes, ivory chicken strips and sunflower chopped meat with the theme of the four famous scenes of Yangzhou Wansongshan, money and pier, ivory chicken strips, and sunflower chopped meat, and it is said that the original name of the sunflower chopped meat, sunflower meatballs, and the Tang Dynasty, the family chef of the Duke of Zhenshi Wei Cheok Wei Juyuan made squirrel and cinnamon fish, money and shrimp cakes, ivory chicken strips, and sunflower meat, which made guests in the four famous dishes, and was renamed as lion's head.

The dish was renamed "Lion's Head" (獅頭).

Lion's head is made of 60% fat and 40% lean meat with onions, ginger, eggs and other ingredients chopped into puree, made into fist-sized meatballs, can be steamed or braised, fat but not greasy. But modern generally use more lean meat. Xu Ke in the "Qing barnyard notes" clearly recorded: "lion's head, to look like and named, pork round also. Pork fat and lean half, fine cut coarse chopping, is and to protein, so that easy to solidify, or add shrimp, crabmeat. To a yellow sand can, the bottom of the yellow sprouts or bamboo shoots, slightly and water and salt, meat for a great round, placed on it, covered with leaves, to cover the lid of the can, it is into the iron pot, sprinkle a little salt, to prevent the pot from cracking. Then, the dry burning of the fire. Every burning several firewood a stop, about five minutes more burning, Hou cooked out."

The dish has a long history, Song poetry: "but will be a sliced meat with two crabs, the world really Yangzhou Crane". Eating crabs and chopping meat is compared to "riding a crane down Yangzhou" of the happy gods, visible crab meat lion head dish how delicious and attractive. Qing Dynasty "Tune Ding set" in Yangzhou, "Dazhong meat round" a dish, the method is as follows: "take rib meat, peeled, cut long thin strips, thick 劗, plus soybean flour, a little seasoning, with the hands of the loose pressed, can not be rubbed into. Or fried or steamed (lined with tender green)" visible lion's head dish in the Qing Dynasty for social recognition.

Shishitou dishes cooked extremely heavy fire. Stewed over a slight fire for about forty minutes, so that, after the production of fat and not greasy, melt in the mouth. Yangzhou lion's head stewed, steamed, braised three cooking methods, as for the more varieties, there are stewed crabmeat lion's head, mussels roasted lion's head, wind chicken roasted lion's head.

Lion head is a kind of pill. Iron lion head this dish, its origin is because of the home of the god doctor Heilai Le - Hebei Cangzhou, and Cangzhou's iron lion is a scene, so it is called this pill iron lion head. The main thing is that it's big and tender on the outside. There are also braised lion's head, there are many ways. There are also longan lion's head. Steamed lion's head. Some places called four happy balls. The practice is basically the same.