ChefSteps turns button mushrooms into shaveable "Truffaux"

Grant Crilly's imitation black truffles use truffle oil, binding ingredients and a charcoal coat, with macaroni and cheese as the office taste test.

Channel: ChefSteps Story of November 9, 2026Trari Newsroom

Why this story? The video opened at a pace of 63,573 views a day, 9.2 times a normal first day on this channel (6,891).

The Modernist Hack to Transform Button Mushrooms Into Truffles

The button mushrooms need to do more than taste earthy. Grant Crilly wants them to hold together under a mandoline, fall into fine threads from a grater and look convincing enough to finish a plate of pasta.

That's the project behind ChefSteps' "The Modernist Hack to Transform Button Mushrooms Into Truffles," which has drawn about 53,000 views in 16 hours, already well beyond the channel's usual first-day audience.

Crilly calls the result "Truffaux." This isn't a way to grow actual truffles in the kitchen: it's a constructed substitute, with black truffle oil supplying aroma and a mushroom mixture engineered to behave like the expensive ingredient.

He starts by cooking quartered button mushrooms to concentrate them without browning. Into the food processor go black garlic, salt, MSG, sodium caseinate and Activa RM, a binding ingredient often called meat glue, along with the truffle oil. The mixture becomes irregular little balls, brushed with food-grade activated charcoal for that dark exterior.

The inexpensive starting ingredient doesn't make this a quick supper trick. Drying takes a full day, followed by another day in the refrigerator. Only then does Crilly test whether the finished spheres will shave and grate as intended.

Viewers are already asking the practical batch-cooking question: can the extras be frozen? Other comments suggest smoking them or making molds for a more truffle-like surface.

For the demonstration's serving test, Crilly and colleague Nick skip the elaborate restaurant plate. They grate Truffaux over macaroni and cheese, then wheel a cart around the office to hand out samples.

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ChefSteps turns button mushrooms into shaveable "Truffaux" The full story on Trari: https://trari.com/en/story/chefsteps-31250/?from=kit

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The numbers

The truffle tutorial has already passed ChefSteps' usual full-day audience by a wide margin. Daily views across the channel are also running above their typical pace.

the video's first day

usual first day here

6,891

this video

63,573

subscribers

1,380,000

no significant change in the last 7 days

total views

196,166,206

views per day

75,317

typical day: 27,624

the video

views

52,694

likes

1,373

comments

84

days online

1

subscribers: this channel and similar channels

ChefSteps

1,380,000

Early American

1,380,000

The TRY Channel

1,380,000

NYT Cooking

1,360,000

Breanna Stark

1,360,000

Louis Howard

1,350,000

As of November 9, 2026 · Data source: Trari Social News, Trari Traffic Trends and Ranking Platform, Google YouTube

Subscriber, view, like and comment counts are YouTube's. Rates, usual days, rankings, comparisons and categories are Trari's own calculations.