Lion's head is a Huaiyang dish.

Lion's head, formerly known as sunflower chopped pork and sunflower meatballs, is a traditional dish in the Huaiyang cuisine of China. It began in the Sui Dynasty. Legend has it that during Emperor Yang's visit to Yangzhou, the chef made four dishes of squirrel and cinnamon fish, money and shrimp cakes, ivory chicken strips and sunflower chopped meat based on the four famous scenes of Yangzhou, namely Wansong Mountain, Money Pier, Ivory Grove and Sunflower Gang, and renamed the dish as "Lion's Head" in the Tang Dynasty. The dish is soft and creamy, healthy and nutritious.

Jiangxi Yifeng also have this dish, prevalent for more than 100 years, with the color of snow-white, tender meat, mellow flavor, all seasons and other characteristics. Anhui Chaohu area every year during the Spring Festival to tie colorful balls, playing lion, to celebrate the grain harvest. Local people will make snacks shaped like lion's head to thank the lion dancers, a custom that has been passed down since ancient times. This snack because of the amount of alkali than ordinary leavening dough to be slightly larger, so especially crispy, can be stored for several days will not be soft.

Historical origin of lion's head:

Lion's head is the Yangzhou dialect said "big chopped meat", the northern dialect called "big meatballs" or "four happy meatballs" or "four happy balls". It is said that its "distant ancestor" is the North and South Dynasties, "food scripture" recorded on the "jumping pill sizzling". The Qing Dynasty "Tune Ding set" in Huai'an "Dajian meatballs" a dish, the preparation method is as follows: "take the rib meat, peeled, cut long thin strips, thick, plus bean flour, a little seasoning, with the hands of the loose pressed, can not be rolled into. Or fried or steamed (lined with tender green)" visible lion's head dish in the Qing Dynasty for social recognition.

Lion's head of a dish of cooking very heavy fire, with a slight fire simmer for about forty minutes, so that, after the production of fat and not greasy, melt in the mouth. Yangzhou lion's head has 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.

Jiaqing years, Ganquan Lin Lanzhi Ganjiang three chants, also sang Yangzhou's "sunflower meatballs". The preface says: "The meat is chopped and chopped coarsely into pills and fried in meat and vegetable oil to a sunflower yellow color, commonly known as sunflower meatballs." The poem reads, "The kitchen has been cut frequently, and this sunflower ball is new. Full stomach should also think to the sun, have meat and food er who."