A Lesson from Nigella Lawson’s Cookery Show

Why she still sells even without advanced cooking skills

Word of caution: I have no intention to be disrespectful to Nigella Lawson, I actually like her recipes as explained in this article.

It was 24 December 2021, and my boyfriend and I were facing this 5-pound turkey as if it is a monster waiting to be awakened in the fridge.

Neither of us had cooked a turkey before and this was our first Christmas together, we wanted it to be special. Over the years, we secretly laughed at mums getting overstressed about these festive dinners but now we understood their fuss and hardship. There was so much stuff to do and it was overwhelming.

So we turned to our British Domestic Goddess — Nigella Lawson. I supposed people from outside the UK might have heard of her too, but I have added the link in case you didn’t know how goddess-y she is.

Under her instruction, we rushed to the kitchen and duly submerged the turkey in this spiced brine for an overnight soak.

Christmas was saved.

To celebrate this, we watched all six episodes of her Christmas special, and here’s what I found:

Nigella Lawson doesn’t actually cook in her cooking shows.

Then I learned something about having a career as a spiritual writer that we can all apply to our profession.

Some focus on their crafts

As a confessed Japanophile, I am obsessed with great craftsmanship, which is uniquely celebrated by the Japanese. From their eateries to a person’s lifetime profession, the Japanese often focus on perfecting one thing and one thing only.

There are eateries that only serve ramen and nothing else, and of course, it is almost a religion for a sushi chef to become a master.

I have the same attitude with my crafts.

My craft is spirituality for laymen, and as a stoic, I strongly believe that ideas must be written down. I do that on Medium and other platforms, some might do that on their journals. My job is to spread the message of true spirituality to as many people as possible, and as the modern world calls me to Youtube, I found myself out of depth with the doodling, the filming and the editing.

Here’s when Nigella Lawson saves me again.

Nigella Lawson’s craft

Nigella Lawson is upper class through and through (she’s the daughter of former UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Nigel Lawson for heaven’s sake), and she never worked in a restaurant.

Her craft is to show how upper-class socialites through to people with no domestic skills like myself to host parties. In her shows, she has the best-equipped kitchen despite she almost never touches a knife and/or spices (she doesn’t want her hands to smell when pouring champagne to guests). This is so stereotypically true for some.

My boyfriend and I tried many recipes, from Ottonlenghi to Jamie Oliver. They were good but there are always ten plus steps for each recipe. They chop when Lawson blitzes, they rub spice on raw chicken when Lawson shoves a whole guinea fowl in a plastic bag with marinade.

Her craft is to make food wonders as a layman.

How to be a Lawson in our craft

Her ongoing success despite some racy scandals is evident. We do enjoy watching Youtube videos about people doing things so expertly that we will never be able to do, but frankly speaking, we will never be them.

When I was making this video, I reminded myself again that I am no Amanda Rach Lee the Youtube doodle queen, and I am not bloody Steven Spielberg when it comes to cinematography. I am a Nigella Lawson in the spiritual world, who tries to make Youtube videos with a message:

You don’t need to doodle to write a spiritual journal.

So I apply Nigella Lawson mentality in this. She provides practical tips for amateur cooks, the setting is to host parties; similarly, I provide practical tips for transcendence, the setting is on bullet journaling or filming myself talking.

Lawson has relieved me from stressing about my lack of cinematography or doodling skills, she told me it’s ok to cheat a little if you are clear on your intention. She’s not ashamed to tell the world that she uses canned lychee to make her lychee martini, I’m not ashamed by using stickers and washi tape to replace doodling and decoration.

This is the outcome, and it was actually fun to make and fun to watch:

Will you subscribe to my youtube channel, or will you support my writing by subscribing to my free newsletter full of digital nourishment here? I am your spiritual friend and author, Midori by the Sea.