Large, soft pork meatballs, gently stewed in stock over Chinese leaf until they're tender enough to eat with a spoon.
What makes it lion's head meatballs
Fatty pork, chopped by hand rather than minced, so the balls are soft and loose.
Big — often one per person.
Stewed slowly in stock under cabbage leaves, the clear version, or browned first and braised in soy, the red one.
Where it comes from
The name comes from the look of it: a big round meatball for the head, with the ragged cabbage leaves around it for the mane. Yangzhou is most often given as its home, and stories tie it to the Sui dynasty or to an emperor's visit, though they're hard to pin down.
The secret is in the cutting. The pork, fat and lean, is diced and chopped by hand rather than minced, which keeps the balls loose and soft.