Knife cut noodles (刀剪面dao xiao mian) are legendary in China, a specialty of the Shanxi province. They are known as knife-shaved, knife-cut, pared noodles, or even peel noodles. In Chinese, they're刀剪面(dao xiao mian.) The method of making them is an art form that takes years of practice. Homemade Peel Noodles are velvet-soft on the surface and slippery in your mouth, as if they've been left to boil in water for an eternity. In other words, it's hard to tell where the noodle begins and where your tongue ends. Despite their brink-of-disintegration mouth feel, they have a sassy little backbone of al dente-ness running through the middle.