What can you cook for $20 in Paris, France? 

French here living in Paris. To answer the "grocery store ranking", here is how I would rank the grocery stores. Monoprix is definitely on the higher end of the scale with some premium brands and premium products. Franprix and G20 are called "supérette" which basically are compact supermarket. Because they are smaller than your regular supermarket, they have less economies of scale and therefore can be expensive. Carrefour is more tricky because there is Carrefour City, Carrefour Express (both supérette), Carrefour Market (which is supermarket so less expensive thanks to the economies of scale), and many other. In recap, Monoprix is nice for premium products, supérette are nice because they are usually in every corner, but can be more expensive, and supermarket are cheaper but not the easiest to find.

ALSO! I remember in those open markets at the end of the day around 2-3pm you can get some deals. We got a whole case of avacados for 2 euros! so sometimes it worth waiting till the end of the day to bargain! Enjoy Paris you'll love it!

That sandwich looks delicious !

You actually just made a fancy version of a French fastfood thing called 'Sandwich Americain'. Not sure if by accident, but very funny. As a Dutchie travelling to France my whole live, I always get my sandwich americain fix in the south. I go for baguette+fries+merguez+cheese+samurai sauce. In Belgium they call it a Mitraillette.

Funnily enough, in my French town growing up, that sandwich was called “un américain” - Very fitting for Ethan’s new adventures in Paree! Keep up the amazing content!!

As a european, or more specifically swede, it's great to see you cook with similar ingredients to which are available here. Some of the things which you seem to be able to get at every local grocery store in the US may not be the same to say the french or swedish. Great video as always and keep the euro videos coming!

I love that you mentioned the social anxiety involved in filming. I actually was already wondering about how you guys handled the across the street shots, but obviously doing it in a crowded market is another level.

What I love about this video is how you've embraced your vulnerability. For someone who I respect as somewhat of an expert of cooking from America, I love to see you discovering cooking of other cultures from a fresh perspective. I have been to France a dozen times and have been through the same "wow" moments you are showing on camera, and it's at the same time innocent, inspirational, and strangely opiniated. Keep your open mind, abandoner les supermarchés, et continuer à inspirer!

PREDICTION: Ethan will meet Alex

Compté is actually a really strong cheese-just the supermarket one has almost no flavour. Try one from the market next time :) Also, good to note is that France in general works like that, not just Paris. French people have food as their status symbol, not cars or houses. I have yet to fond a single place that has bad food. Heaven for foodies!

So fun. When my wife and I went to Paris for our honeymoon. She had previously lived there when younger for six months. So we made a point of renting a place with a kitchen. Walking to the little shops and picking up a few good items to cook for dinner. Couldn't be beat. And that sandwich... Ahhhh. I can't wait to make it.

Ethan, you rock. Few others would follow their passion as you have. Congratulations on the move in the courage to do it. So many people look back at their lives and ‘if only I would have . . . while I was younger’ Continue to learn, grow, and inspire.

Ethan, thanks for bringing us along for the ride. It’s cool to see someone who knows what they are doing get out of their comfort zone and learn new customs, experiences and possibilities. Well done.

For the baguettes with special names, it's pretty much just branding from whichever store you're buying from. You've got to learn what they have, and differentiate based off your knowledge of the place and the look of things Also, places that have the name "boulangerie" are obligated to make the bread there (mixing, kneading, baking). Doesn't apply to pastries though. There are some laws regarding what name stores can use. Usually a good boulangerie make their own bread and it's worth it Last but not least, comté is a really good cheese (it needs to pass a quality test to "deserve" the name) with a lot of flavor. It does cost quite a bit especially if you go for a more aged one.

I lived in London when I was in my twenties and I was really trying to be thrifty to save up for further travel and the thing that saved me were the open air markets and small ethnic deli shops. I didn't know how to cook then, so I was relying on a lot of pre-made dips and sauces and fresh baked bread, cheese and produce. England gets a lot of produce from Spain as well and I loved the tomatoes I got there. A simple sandwich of flat bread, hummus and sliced tomato was one of my favorite meals.

If you're in france, you need to try the french veal from a butcher there - It's completely different quality-wise to anything I've seen anywhere else, I find outside of france it's always patchy and underwhelming

Definitely enjoyed the exploration at the beginning! Knowing where to look for food is often confusing in a new country, so it was cool to see you explain the different types of shops and where they're located!

Man, I'm french and I follow your channel for 1 year already, and you can't know how much is fun for me to see you in Paris :') so happy to follow your new series

I took 3 years of French in high school, my dad's been learning it his whole life too so it's a big bonding thing for us, anything "Parisian"...plus we have relatives were trying to plan a trip to visit soon. It's super cool to see you shop & make budget meals in Paris!! Bon Appétit!

For grocery stores, basically you have the low end (lidl, leader price, and a few others), and then everything else. Franprix and Monoprix are kind of a separate category since they only exist inside cities, and thus usually more expensive compared to the bigger carrefours/Geants/Leclercs and so on.

Philly guy goes to France and the first food he makes is a variation on a cheesesteak wit.

When I was in Germany, I noticed specific stores were common, and buying groceries for the week/2 weeks was uncommon (or at least it was for the family I stayed with). They bought dinner ingredients every day. The result was dinner every night was obscenely fresh every time.

Love the production on this, feels super dynamic and engaging, especially at the start with narration at different locations

The way people in countries with Euro say 'cents' is generally just 'cents'. "Eurocent" is what is says on the Eurocent coins too.

About the supermarket ranking, I'd rank Monoprix - Most expensive (like Whole foods tier?) Franprix/Carrefour - Mid-tier, there are big Walmart-like Carrefour outside of city centers G20 - Lower mid tier Lidl, Aldi - Budget tier BUT in Paris, Franprix/Carrefour/Monoprix are all super expensive anyway 😅

I love the new direction of your channel!! I’ve been binging your videos for the past couple of weeks and my cooking skills have improved drastically. Thank you for all you do!

Awesome work as always Ethan. Thanks a lot. I love the no frills aspect and how you focus on the food and not the bells and whistles of production. Keep it up!

Really loved your inclusion of which areas of Paris you were exploring during the video. Love the details you add to your stuff

Long time fan, but I gotta tell you: your recent Paris adventure is an all time great stretch of quality videos on RU-vid for me

Huge fan of the tour of the different markets! Also love the idea of setting a budget and seeing what you can make from it! All around a great video!

I would watch a Paris/France/Europe "travel" style show from you non-stop. I love bread and baking and getting an inside look at all of the bakeries and restaurants would be amazing. Love the content.

This move is one of the coolest changes you could have made to your channel. Really interesting and I'm basically travelling with you!

Love this series, Ethan! Awesome work! Looking forward to more!

I am so excited for the rest of this journey. This was such a great idea. I’d love to see more of your brother in the videos!

Congratulations on your move to Paris! I am so envious. I lived in France when I was in my early 20's and have to say that my favorite place to live, was Paris, especially in the Springtime!! I have never made it back, but every spring, I am transported to Paris in my mind. You are going to love it! Their reputation for great cuisine is well deserved. I am always fascinated by the fact that there is a French word or phrase for every stage of every cooking technique! Mis-en-place, mirepoix, fond, sauté, julienne, brunoise, batonnet. Use a technique, make a cut... there's a name for it! It is amazing to "chill" in the sidewalk cafés and just people watch. Stroll along the "Rive Gauche", enjoy the artists at Sacré Coeur. I'd suggest that you get yourself a moped, so you can manoeuvre quickly and inexpensively through Paris traffic. You take you life in your own hands by negotiating the traffic circle around the Arc-de-Triomphe on a moped, but it is absolutely a "bucket list" item! A few things you have to try while you're there: Coquille St. Jacques!! French crêpes (Crêpes Suzette!!), Chateaubriand, and you definitely have to have a blue rare horsemeat steak. As a matter of fact, I think that is the only way they'll serve it! Not that is particularly delicious, but after eating it several times, I learned to really appreciate and love a blue rare beef tenderloin when I got back to Alberta! Truly loving your channel. Bon Appétit!

this video has nicely blended a number of different things; food, culture, and travel. but most importantly, I enjoyed that you made a dish that was affordable and easily replicable. wonderful video!

Ethan, quel plaisir de t'avoir à Paris (What a pleasure to have you in Paris). You HAVE to go to "Du Pain et des Idées" boulangerie-patisserie in the 10th district. This most likely will be the best experience you can have in terms of hand-made croissants, pains au chocolat (or chocolatine) and escargots (not the snails, but the pastry version of them). Like seriously, I'm french, and most of our bakeries, even though advertising hand-made or home-made, don't usually go to the length of doing croissant themselves. These guys go the extra mile and do everything themselves. Please go there. It's like going to NYC for the first time and not going to Venice Beach (jk). Also, highly recommend putting a damp kitchen paper below your cutting board. It'll stop it from moving when you cut things and will make your experience much better while using it ;) Also works with wooden cutting boards. I wish you the very best for the next 3 months, hope you like this place and hope my countrymen and women won't be utter jerks.

i was unsure how the relocation would change / keep aspects of what I like about your videos, but what I am realizing in this video is that the travel and exploration addition is giving me some flavors of Anthony Bourdain, which is a super good thing in my book.

That bread looks so good! I just started learning french a few months ago so i'm super excited to see all the videos you put up while you're exploring france

You HAVE to go to Rungis market. It is trully incredible, this is literally a city, in fact this is the biggest wholesale food market in the world. An incredible experience

5:59 I believe it's more common with corn-fed cattle in the US which results in more marbling and also a sweeter fat. Here in Europe it's more common with grass-fed meet which results in less and more "natural" tasting fat :)

6:20 Dutch person here. My local butcher here told me that many beef recipes from the US don't translate 1-to-1 to when you prepare them in the Netherlands because black angus has higher fat content than local breeds. Probably also the case in France.

I really loved this style of video! Quick, concise, fun, and educational in a new way I haven't seen! Love it!

I love how Ethan's way of recording is so simple yet so professional. The editing is also very good! I remember when I first discovered Ethan with his version of Adam's fries then to now, the way this channel had improved so satisfying. CLOSE TO 1 MIL ETHAN!

The exploratory/travel part of this video is great, really interesting to see other cities, especially from a food/home cooking perspective. Keep it up!

Your channel has been great over the last year and this is a really interesting way to mix things up and keep everything fresh in a way some of the other channels don't quite manage.

I am French. And the funny thing is, this sandwich with steak and fries, in France we call it: the American sandwich lol

It's been a very long time since I've been in France rather than just driving across it from ferry port to elsewhere in Europe. So it's good just to see there are still plenty of the boulangerie etc shops and it's not yet entirely full of just convenience stores

It's so funny that you always say 'Paris, France' rather than just Paris. Glad you're having fun over there!

Have to admit, I love the tour at the beginning nearly as much as the recipe. Thank you!

I've subscribed to your channel for a few months, but I'm absolutely loving this new venture. Nice work on getting out of your comfort zone.

Absolutely loved the historical explanations and geographical references throughout the video. Definitely learned a lot about the culture, and i love it. cheers

This looks great but 20$ is 3/4 of my weekly food budget, I thought this was going to be a week of meal prep on that budget 😵‍💫

Ethan!! I absolutely love this video. As a Brit, I always used to love taking day trips to France to bring back local produce for low prices. Brexit has completely ruined that... Please do a video on French cheeses, we used to get loads here but they're so rare and expensive now!

I loved this! Ethan, pleeeease keep the tours and food culture content coming!

Our family loves Paris. Keep the content coming as it’s scratching the itch and makes us want to go back!

your taste tests are always so satisfying cause you demolish at least half of whatever it is. Legend.

Absolutely loving the new Paris series!

This is fantastic, Ethan! thank you for sharing your journey with us. I'm living vicariously through you! lol

Ethan I just love this new series! Thank you for sharing your life in Paris!

Actually really interesting to see you having to adapt since that’s what I do when I cook American recipes. Many times Americans will only say oh use x kind of potato but not mention the properties of that potato. Same goes for steak cuts, some are similar but they tend to vary from country to country. So figuring out what is the right ingredient to use can be quite challenging! But any trip of mine will usually include a visit to the grocery store to check out what similarities and differences there are. Tells you a lot about the culture of a country imo!

Great video and I love how you go about experiencing Paris as a city. I'd also love to see you try to "Frenchify" some typical American recipes, like try to remake them with more french/European type ingredients. I would also really recommend visiting a couple countries/cities nearby Paris, for example Amsterdam. They usually have wildly different food cultures! Enjoy your time in Paris/Europe :)

I really appreciate the exploratory aspect of this video. Definitely a welcome formula for the next videos. keep it up as usual

Love the new style of video. Especially the exploring part. Can't wait to see more.

Can I just thank you for eating normal food while living a healthy lifestyle? I've loved watching you cook, but I love how real you are with what you're cooking. I've met too many people who tell me I have to eat nothing but salad or no carbs at all, and it's just not realistic for me because I totally live to eat.

This is a real nostalgia trip for me. I spent 6 months in Paris just before the pandemic and it was amazing for me and my family. Good luck with your vacation, there is so much to see and taste in Paris you can spend a lifetime here and not get enough :)

Great video! Brought back many great memories of Paris when I was there while in Culinary school over 35 years ago!

Great video. Nice information about Paris. The sandwich looks very good. I'll definitely will try this. I am lucky to have stumbled upon this channel. Keep the vids coming!

I lived in Belgium for 8 years. This video made me so nostalgic for Europe. The bread, the cheese and the ONION FREAKIN' COMPOTE!!!

Nooooo never boil fries ! Take it from a Belgian: do a double fry. 1st: at 140C for about 5mins then let cool to room temp, then go for a second fry at 180C until golden, about 4-5 mins.

If you continue traveling I would love to see this series continued!! Great video!

Love your videos, everything you make looks so delicious and I enjoy learning new cooking techniques from you. Cheers~

I'm French and I've never ever heard of g20 before lmao. To begin with, most if not all grocery stores are significantly more expensive within big cities. This is true for Paris but also for Lyon where I live. But within the list you've shown at 1:58 I'd just swap Franprix and Carrefour, otherwise it's accurate. I'm not sure about g20 though as I mentionned earlier.

For the grocery store tier list, as a parisian i would rank these like that : - Monoprix (kind of premium but very expensive) - Franprix G20 (good but still expensive) - Auchan Carrefour Casino (kinda low budget) - Lidl Aldi (low budget) (But to be honest it REALLY depends about your neighbourhood, and the type of grocery store : each major brand has several types of stores: large hypermarkets, premiums with specialized departments or small ones for everyday products) Glad to see that you are enjoying Paris ! :)

honestly love seeing you adapt to a new country and different culture!

Great video, welcome to Paris Ethan! Looking forward to seeing more videos highlighting everyday french food products

So happy for you Ethan - huge undertaking moving to a new country. Next step is to work on pronunciation of French words / language - but that’s part of the adventure :)

Always love your food and video compositions mate! Everything just comes together so nicely

Another great video, and kudos to you for taking this whole thing on. So exciting, but not without some trepidation I can i.agine to up and move to a foreign country. It's a brave thing, and I'm sure you'll carry it with you forever. Really glad to be part of your journey and this wonderful channel.

I like this concept -- merging travel and home cooking videos is something I would really be interested in because travel videos often focus on street food or restaurant food

when I was living in Paris , in Vincennes the monorprix and G20 were my favorites plus the Vincennes market on friday and BTW Hampe is not skirt steak , it's a cut that is practically inexistant in north america that comes from a very small piece of meat that is considered worthless and used as a meat sub-product it is located next to the skirt, very tasty I had it a few times in Paris

"I don't know how they say cents here". You just said it ;)

i loooove all the research, the details, the breaking it down. the MAP. yesss my kind of info!

Very informative! Thank you for the video. I look forward to seeing more videos!

come to Portugal! With $20 you can cook for 4 people and still buy a bottle of wine :D

That was both a simple and delicious recipe. The arugula was surprisingly pricey though.

I enjoyed the different travel aspect of your video. A little insight into Paris when it comes to normal living was great!

This looks so delicious and the ingredients so simple! This was fascinating to watch how to shop in Paris, so neat! And I guess I'm a little European even though I've never been there because that looks likes my $20 of shopping tonight. Very cool! Thank you for another great and informative, fun, intriguing video!

How do you recognize an American coming to europe "So today we're going to deep/shallow fry in extra virgin olive oil"

Love the channel! Not sure if you know this yet, but I picked it up on your last video, we over here in Europe don't call our salt "kosher Salt" because that phrase is in relation to the process of adding extra things into salt, over here in Europe we don't normally do this so therefore most of our salt is, well salt. Kind of like how you Americans have to be careful of buying bleached flour.. Also, out of curiosity, why do you always name the country after the city, when talking about a different country? I don't believe anyone else does this and I'm genuinely curious as to why, I have never heard Americans say "New York, America"

love your videos ethan! American living in france and after watching this video I think you can totally get a better cheese and a better deal on cheese at either the open air market or a cheese store specifically because they let you tell them exactly how much you want to purchase. I think you will fall in love with the improved quality of cheeses from those stores. To your ranking question I feel the same way you do haha I have been here for a few months and they all seem similar to me ! Keep up the good work its exciting to see since you moved here around a similar time to me! If you need any crepe advice my wife and I recreated the recipe her grandmother makes look forward to your video. (steer clear of savory crepes they have a different dough here for that with buckwheat)

lovely, have been the Paris this Christmas but probably should have watched your videos beforehand. Enjoyed the vid anyway

"Specialty stores" being something remarkable to an American is so sad... I'm so glad we still have many bakeries, butcher shops etc. here in Germany too (though sadly they are declining)

u can really taste the added value, Ethan put into the video by doing his research and those additional annotations.

Love your adventurous spirit. My husband & I spend 2 -3 months / year in Germany & Scandinavia. I love exploring the new foods available to cook! My husband enjoys my sense of gastronomic adventures as well! Thanks for sharing! I want to know - what country is next on your Bucket List.

This content is amazing man! I am loving this move. You are killing it!

That sandwich looked really good. As for the fries, I've been taught by my mother, growing up, to drop one single potato chip into the oil, if it starts sizzling like it's frying the oil is ready, if not, you wait and repeat the process. I have never had to repeat the process more than twice (and those two potato chips don't go to waste either). There's seriously no need what so ever for those annoying, fancy cooking thermometers. In 41 years of life I have never had to use one to fry anything.

I was initially hesitant about the move, but the whole "travel and cook at home" is a really unique concept amongst the Anthony Bourdain look alikes out there. I think there is something to traveling to a foreign place but cooking with the sutff you find there rather than have someone else cook it for you.

5:03 while holding the “red bag” grocery bag and the police siren on the background, I get a feeling of Jason Bourne in Paris lol 😂 Great video!

I loved this recipe! I’d love to learn a little bit more about why the meat is different quality and ESPECIALLY some opinions about home cooking in Paris from some locals would be AWESOME. Thank you!