Inspired by this article from Serious Eats, I decided to butter baste a steak. I marched down to Tucker Meats and picked up a nice, thick ribeye. Then I got to work.
The technique is pretty much as it sounds: keep spooning butter over the steak as it cooks, flipping it several times in the process. The goal is not to make the steak taste like butter, although it does pick up a nice buttery flavor. The hot butter helps to cook the steak on both sides at once. Flipping also helps to even out the heat. As a side effect, the butter helps to give some nice crunchy bits on the steak's outside.
I also made some home fries. While the steak rested, I drizzled the leftover steak butter on top. The result was deliciously crispy potato and superbly crispy potato skin. This was a very satisfying meal.
Luella's is a nouvelle BBQ outfit on the north side of Asheville. It is nestled among the trees in a lovely neighborhood. The restaurant has lots of windows for inside seating and plenty of outside seating. Service was courteous and amazingly fast. This is a combination plate with pork and brisket. Both were very moist and tender. For the pork, I tried both the mild and hot vinegar sauces. To my surprise, I preferred the milder one because it didn't assert itself too much. I enjoyed the spicy tomato sauce for my brisket. The hushpuppies were very good. The fried okra was fresh out of the fryer and excellent. The slaw was of the vinegary variety, which I usually enjoy, but this version is heavy on the white stuff and didn't have quite enough variety in tastes for me.


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