Meet "Salt Bae" - a brooding, moustachioed Turkish restaurant owner who has caught the attention of the Internet with his charismatic preparation of meat.
The ponytailed chef, who carves steak with deft, deliberate movements in various posts on his Instagram and Twitter pages, was given the moniker for the unique way he sprinkles salt on meat.
"Bae" is a term often used online to describe one's lover.
Nusret Gokce owns the Nusr-Et Steakhouse restaurants in Istanbul and Dubai, New York Magazine's The Cut reported on Sunday (Jan 8).
Gokce, reportedly in his 30s, has more than 1.4 million followers on Instagram, and 32,000 on Twitter.
The viral video that shot him to Internet fame, posted last Saturday (Jan 7), has been viewed more than 4.4 million times.
In the 36sec clip, he holds up a cut of meat, then proceeds to strip it of its gristle and bone and slice it deftly, before performing his by-now signature salt sprinkling moves.
Netizens have embraced #SaltBae with a variety of salty comments.
Instagram user @aliahouidi said: "I wanna be this steak".
Another user, @ejmarko, wrote that Gokce was "so majestic", while @melaninbluess said "he worships the meat with the respect it deserves".
Other videos of Gokce show him smoothly twisting bones out of rib cuts, massaging cows, twirling meat strips around his finger, and smacking what appear to be legs of lamb.
In one video, he holds up a cut of meat, slaps it twice, then butters and oils it sensuously before salting it - all to classical music playing in the background.
In another, he lines up slabs of raw meat in a line and is shown sitting at the end of a long table with sunglasses and a beret on.
He gives the first piece a smack with his knife, which sends the meat toppling in a row like dominoes.
Gokce started out as a butcher when he was 16, according to a 2015 article by food news site Foodiva.net.
He has nine children, according to The Cut.
A viral meme with a picture of Gokce sprinkling salt has been used to describe instances of embellishing something that does not need it, adding fuel to the fire, or anything else the Internet can think of.
