Dove Recipes - How to Cook Doves and Pigeons | Hank Shaw (2024)

FAQs

What is the best way to cook a dove? ›

Grilling is by far the best way to cook doves. It's the only way to get the skin crispy without overcooking the breast meat, which should be eaten medium, i.e., still pink. Same goes for young pigeons. Older pigeons are better braised.

Since dove is a red-meat migratory bird, it is best served medium-rare. A proper roast should crisp the skin but never cook the meat inside past medium-rare.

Let your dove breasts soak in milk for two hours to help diminish the gamey taste. After they have soaked, pat them down with a paper towel. Wrap the dove breast in bacon and secure with a toothpick.

If you cook a dove breast until it is medium-rare, and I'm talking no more than 130 to 135 degrees, it doesn't taste the least bit funky.

Dove is a lean meat that has a high protein content and tastes great. The lure to eat dove comes partly from the act of harvesting the bird in the wild. It is organic, free-range meat, depending on how good of a shot you are.

The key to cooking pigeon breast is to keep it short and snappy. Think of it like steak and sear on both sides for 2-3 minutes then wrap and rest it. Keep it pink in the middle otherwise it can go a bit tough. Get it right and your knife will slide through it.

The distinct game flavor of either birds or animals will be milder after soaking the meat overnight in the refrigerator in either a salt or vinegar solution.

The word "squab" probably comes from Scandinavia; the Swedish word skvabb means "loose, fat flesh". The term formerly applied to all dove and pigeon species (such as the wood pigeon, the mourning dove, the extinct-in-the-wild socorro dove, and the now extinct passenger pigeon,) and their meat.

Game birds and ground meat can be kept refrigerated 1 to 2 days before cooking; game meat can be stored 3 to 5 days. After cooking, keep refrigerated up to 4 days. Raw and cooked game birds and meat can be frozen indefinitely.

Birds such as doves, ducks and geese that migrate have dark-meat breasts. Birds that don't migrate such as quail and chickens have white-meat breasts.

How much meat can you get off a dove? ›

That's right about as much as a whole dove weighs. A mourning dove breast weighs 2 oz., or about half a wiener's worth of meat. As far as I could tell, the ballot literature overstated the dove's meatiness by 233%. Unless, I concluded, you were to eat the whole dove, wings, feet, tail, feathers and all.

By removing the thin film of slime, seasoning will stick better. I sometimes put a thin film of oil on top of the seasoning to help hold it in better.

Pigeons and doves belong to the same family of birds (Columbidae), which consists of more than 300 species of birds. They share similar features like thick and round bodies, short necks and thin peaks, but doves are generally of a smaller stature while pigeons are often larger and stubbier.

Kenn and Kimberly say, “After the pair finishes building the nest—which takes two to four days—the female usually lays the first egg within a couple of days, and a second egg a day or two later. Both parents will take turns incubating the two eggs. The eggs hatch after 14 days.

Place dove breast side up in the oven safe dish and baste with melted butter and sprinkle with garlic salt and black pepper. Wrap dish in foil and bake on 375 degrees Farenheit for 35 minutes or until bacon is crisp and no red juices run from dove.

Place each lobe between 2 sheets of plastic wrap and pound them GENTLY with a meat tenderizer (mallet). Do not tear the flesh, and work toward achieving a nice ¼ inch thick medallion.