By Yi Bei

My great-grandma always had a love affair with Stewed Crab and Pork Meatballs. She longed for the dish when she was in her 70s and 80s, and even into her 90s.

M a n y y e a r s a g o, m y grandparents moved to Anhui Province for work. Being a native of Yangzhou and very attached to her hometown, Great-grandma did not really want to move away,yet she had no choice but to go with her son and daughter-in-law.She attended school when she was little, and so was literate.

Grandma had six children whom my great-grandma helped raise. Later, my grandpa died in a traffic accident and the two women lived together for decades.

Grandma was not exactly endowed with much of a gift for all things culinary, and only started learning to cook Anhui cuisine when she moved to the area.Great-grandma never cared much for her cooking, complaining that it was too greasy and salty.

For years, Stewed Crab and Pork Meatballs was a must at our family gatherings. We took turns playing host and making the dish to please Great-grandma, or to ease Grandma’s burden of having to slave over a hot stove making the dish. Yet our recipe could never satisfy her. More often than not, Great-grandma would only take a few bites and then gently put the bowl aside.

Her 90th birthday just so happened to coincide with Dragon Boat Festival. After dinner, she relaxed in her wicker chair while I sat beside her, playing with her wrinkled hands. Suddenly, a question popped into my head,“What kind of meatball is your favorite?” She squinted, and leaned comfortably on the back of the chair. Gazing at the blue sky,she replied leisurely in her thick Yangzhou accent.

“When I was fifteen, I was a tailor’s apprentice. A young man who was a few years older than me worked in a restaurant opposite to the shop I worked at asked me out several times, but I never gave him the time of day. But he was very persistent. The other girls in the shop advised him to bring me a bowl of Stewed Crab and Pork Meatballs if he really wanted to woo me. The young man said, ‘I cannot bring it to her, but I can make it for her if she comes to our kitchen.

I was innocent then and fond of eating so much that I couldn’t resist going with him to the kitchen.

I remember the middle of autumn when he went to pick out the small crabs, each weighing around 100 grams. He took them back to the kitchen, cooked them thoroughly and scooped the meat out of the female crabs. After that,he removed the unwanted parts,broke the crabs apart and plucked the meat out of the crab legs with his chopsticks.

老太总说想吃蟹粉狮子头。七十多岁的时候提，八十多岁提，到了九十岁了，还一直念叨。

老太是扬州人。当年姥爷姥姥因为工作原因来到安徽，她没办法，只好跟着儿子媳妇走。老太读过书，识字。

姥姥生了六个孩子，老太也就帮着带了六个。后来姥爷出车祸死了，老太跟着媳妇一起过，一过就是几十年。

姥姥原本不太会做菜，来到安徽后现学，结果大油大盐，老太一直不太喜欢。

多少年了，逢家族聚会，必做的一道菜便是蟹粉狮子头，家家轮流，谁也跑不掉，是为讨一下老太的欢心，也是帮姥姥解围。结果做来做去，老太大多尝几口，便放下筷子。

老太九十岁时逢端午。饭后，她坐在藤椅里，我坐在她旁边，有一搭没一搭地捏着她手背上的老皮。突然，我莫名其妙地问一句：到底什么样的狮子头才好？老太眼眯成一条缝，头还是靠在藤椅背上，眼前是赤白的天，她拖着扬州口音，慢慢吞吞地跟我说。

十五岁的时候，我在裁缝店里学做衣服。对面是个饭馆，里面有个小伙计，比我大个岁把，老来找，我不理，他还找。店里的小姊妹促狭，说你找秀英可以，得端一碗蟹粉狮子头来。小伙计说端是端不出来的，但可以请我去伙房，现场做。

我年轻，好吃，真去了。

我记得当时用的都是小螃蟹，一斤四五个，煮熟，然后开始拆蟹粉。是秋天，拣的都是母的，蟹黄又红又硬，盖子掀开，用筷子挑出来。然后去掉蟹百叶和蟹脐，掰成两半，筷子剔除蟹肉，腿上的肉用筷子通一下就可以。

肉是要用五花肉，肥的多一点，瘦的少一点，剁碎，石榴子大小。……