酿皮 is a staple of northwestern Muslim (
回族) street-food culture from Shaanxi, Gansu, Qinghai and Ningxia. Wheat flour is washed to separate starch from gluten; the starch slurry is steamed into thin translucent sheets, cut into noodle ribbons, and dressed with chili oil, vinegar, garlic and pieces of the cooked gluten (
面筋). Not to be confused with Shaanxi's other cold noodle
凉皮, though the preparations overlap heavily.
