Dove Breast Recipe - Peppered Dove Breasts | Hank Shaw (2024)

FAQs

What do you soak dove breasts in? ›

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.

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.

Doves do not take very long to cook since they are so small. The meat can be grilled, roasted, fried, smoked, and stewed in many different ways. People say dove is best when grilled because it makes the skin crispy while not overcooking the breast meat.

The two larger species — the ringneck and the Australian crested — can be kept on a diet of fancy pigeon seed mix with popcorn. You must insist on the popcorn, for the regular poultry corn is too large for the delicate doves. This mix will consist of the following seeds: milo, millet, wheat, peas, and popcorn.

Another tactic is soaking the breasts for several hours in a brine solution (1 cup of salt to 1 gallon of water). That closes the pores and helps retain a dove breast's natural moisture. Long cooking times can make an already dry meat even drier. Top dove cooks debone the breasts, producing two breast halves.

Whether you are cooking wild turkey, deer, gator tail, pheasants, rabbits, waterfowl, squirrels, wild hogs or doves, a good soak in buttermilk does wonders to tenderize, flavorize and remove gaminess.

Brine the dove breasts in the refrigerator, for a minimum of 2 hours, or ideally overnight. Remove from the brine and pat dry. With a sharp knife separate the two breast lobes from the breastbone. Place each lobe between 2 sheets of plastic wrap and pound them GENTLY with a meat tenderizer (mallet).

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.

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.

Information. Game birds and ground meat can be kept refrigerated 1 to 2 days before cooking; game meat can be stored 3 to 5 days.

Do hunters eat Mourning Doves? ›

It's their abundance, in part, that gets mourning doves on the wrong end of a gun in many states. They're the only "game" bird to nest in all 48 contiguous states. They're members of a family, the Columbidae, that, being outside the taxonomic pale of songbirds, finds itself amongst the hunted.

Message From Loved Ones

Courtesy Teresa Taylor Mourning doves can symbolize peace or love. Some believe that the meaning of a mourning dove is a visit or sign of encouragement from a friend or family member. Doves provide comfort because they help people remember their loved ones are watching over them.

As a rule, any wholesome, nutritious food that you and your family eat, your bird can also eat, but in very small quantities. Follow the general guidelines discussed above. Some birds enjoy a very tiny amount of lean cooked meat, fish, egg or cheese occasionally.

A pair may raise two families in a single summer. Mourning doves mate for life - about seven to 10 years.

Fill a plastic bag a little less than 3/4 full with doves. not to overfill the container with water.

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.

Your bird may enjoy showering with you, sitting on a special perch that sticks to the tile with suction cups at the back of the shower. Direct water pressure from the showerhead may frighten or even hurt your bird, so a perch farther from the direct spray, where the bird can be splashed gently, is generally ideal.

Birdbaths (Water)

Water is essential to all birds and providing a bird bath means they don't have to travel great distances to find water.