When you hear the name A French Guy Cooking, you could be forgiven for assuming Alex Ainouz's recipes are all about garlic snails, croissants and tonnes of butter.

While there's no denying Ainouz is French, his cooking can't be labelled so easily. In fact, despite the name of his new book being Just A French Guy Cooking – Ainouz shrugs in typically Parisian fashion: "It is what it is" - instead of one cuisine, he draws inspirations from all over the world. He's also happy to put his own quirky spin on traditional French dishes that have been untouched for decades.

Ainouz's career is unusual; instead of going the expected route of culinary school and years grafting in a kitchen, he's completely self-taught. He's also a decidedly modern cook, built his platform on YouTube and was catapulted into the limelight when he got the much-coveted Jamie Oliver seal of approval. Now, he is doing something a little more traditional – publishing his own cookbook.

His inspirations

"I fell in love with food while travelling the world with my parents," Ainouz explains. "We would start in the market in every place we would visit, finding all the new and exotic food and exciting flavours we'd never heard about before – that's what got me hooked on cooking."

He leaves few cuisines untouched, from Thai and Japanese to Italian and Hawaiian. It's the history of food that also fascinates him: "Recipes are just recipes unless you give context to them – then they become stories."

It's this global approach that means Ainouz runs his YouTube channel in English, saying: "I want to spread the word that is just a tad wider than our borders." Considering he has 750k followers, we'd say this has been pretty successful.

The practicality of cooking

It was practicality that really forced Ainouz to cook regularly. "When I moved in with my girlfriend about eight years ago, we officially divided the housework in half," he recalls. "I started cooking for every meal, which I think is a good deal. I have a kid now, and cooking for three people on a daily basis is a completely different game."

The biggest challenge was making sure he didn't get bored. He says: "It really changed my perception of cooking - it's not about the fancy weekend meals, it's about how you stay creative on a daily basis."

And this was how the book was born – out of Ainouz's desire to create new and exciting meals for his family every day.

French cooking doesn't have to be complicated

Throughout Ainouz's travels, he noticed a recurring theme: "People admire French food, but everyone was intimidated because they don't know the simple kind."

He wants to show the world that French recipes don't have to be hugely complicated with obscure ingredients and numerous steps. His advice if you want a simple recipe to start with? A tartine. He says: "It's nice, good-looking, a bargain in terms of flavour and simple to put together."

It's basically an open sandwich – all you have to do is find good bread, a bit of butter and fresh ingredients and you've nailed it. "Everything's so serious in France," Ainouz says, "I like a more relaxed approach to cooking."

l Just A French Guy Cooking by Alexis Gabriel Ainouz is published by Quadrille, £15.