The Sipping Point: Wine, Food & More! · Laurie Forster

Thanksgiving Cooking & Wine Tips with the Forsters

November 12, 2025·28 min·2 clips

Chef Michael Forrester reveals why you should never stuff your turkey and which wines go beyond Chardonnay for Thanksgiving.

1. The Sipping Point host Lori Forster and her partner Chef Michael Forster co-host a Thanksgiving-focused episode answering listener questions on cooking technique and wine pairings. 2. Chef Michael has worked in culinary settings and handles the cooking for the household; this is his first appearance on The Sipping Point podcast. 3. The episode aims to answer questions submitted by listeners — Maureen from Boca Raton, Lisa, Jerry Browning, Denise from Pennsylvania, Karen (a Puerto Rican neighbour), Harold from South Carolina, and Jackie — covering both kitchen technique and wine selection. 4. Chef Michael advises against stuffing the bird's main cavity because bringing the stuffing to 165°F internal temperature overcooks the turkey meat; he recommends cooking stuffing separately in a casserole or in muffin tins ('Stuffin' Muffins'). 5. If not using stuffing, he recommends filling the bird with herbs, oranges, or apples to provide steam that keeps the interior moist. 6. On cooking with wine, Chef Michael prefers finishing a gravy with wine rather than cooking the wine throughout, preserving the wine's complexity, and says any wine used in cooking should be a wine you'd be willing to drink. 7. Most supermarket turkeys labelled 'basted,' 'self-basting,' 'kosher,' or 'enhanced' have already been injected with a salt solution; brining them again makes the bird salty and makes the drippings unusable for gravy. 8. Chef Michael calls the Butterball pop-up thermometer inaccurate and advises pulling the turkey at 155°F near the leg-thigh joint, not the bone, allowing carryover cooking to reach the food-safe 165°F. 9. Spatchcocking — removing the backbone and pressing the bird flat before roasting — reduces cooking time by hours and allows the legs and breast to cook more evenly. 10. The correct carving technique is to break the bird into main pieces first (breasts, leg-thigh sections) and then slice each piece against the grain on a diagonal bias rather than carving directly off the whole bird at the table. 11. The turkey oyster — a small, prized piece of dark meat near the hip bone on the back — is typically eaten by the carver during the carving process. 12. Lori's white wine recommendation is Dr. Frank Dry Riesling from the Finger Lakes, New York (~$20), a bone-dry wine she describes as having citrus and stone fruit with crisp acidity that stands up to salts and spices in the meal. 13. Lori's red recommendation is One Stone Pinot Noir from Ancient Peaks in San Luis Obispo, California (~$18), a winery whose proceeds from this wine support Dream Big Darling, a mentoring programme for women entering the wine business. 14. Additional red suggestions include California Zinfandel, Cru Beaujolais, Beaujolais Nouveau, Spanish Tempranillo, and Italian Primitivo (which shares DNA with Zinfandel). 15. Lori recommends a Spanish Cava or Gruet sparkling wine as a starter, and endorses a dry rosé — specifically a Pinot Noir rosé from Uruguayan producer Bodega Garzon — as a versatile middle-ground pairing. 16. For dessert, she advises matching sweetness level: late-harvest Riesling or Würztraminer for apple pie and spice cake, and port or Sauternes for denser chocolate desserts; she notes that pairing sweet wine with sweet food makes both taste less sweet. 17. Chef Michael's prep-ahead approach includes making homemade turkey stock a week in advance from turkey legs, necks, or wings, reducing it for gravy and stuffing, and completing most side dishes — mashed potatoes, stuffing, blanched vegetables — the day before. 18. The episode format is conversational between a couple with shared cooking knowledge, making the advice feel practical and lived-in rather than formal or instructional. 19. Home cooks preparing Thanksgiving for the first time or experienced hosts looking to refine their cooking technique and expand beyond Chardonnay and Pinot Noir will benefit most. 20. Wine collectors or listeners seeking in-depth terroir or winemaking discussion will find the episode focused on approachable, affordable Thanksgiving pairings rather than technical wine analysis.

As heard by us

A holiday cooking-and-wine episode that stays grounded in real Thanksgiving details.

Thanksgiving here is treated as a kitchen problem: turkey, stuffing, brining, gravy, and the wines that can sit beside all of it. Lori Forster and Chef Michael stay with the questions that matter on the day, with a clear focus on doneness, moisture, and carving.

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Why you'd press play

You want Thanksgiving turkey help without the holiday panic.

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