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

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• About
• Plucking vs. Breasting
• Recipes: Grilled or Barbecued | Roasted | More Dove Recipes
  

About

Dove recipes are a specialized thing: You can’t buy doves in a store. You must hunt them. Pigeons are a little different. You can buy squab in stores, and wood pigeon in many European markets. And yes, you can eat the common pigeons you see everywhere — only I’d avoid those city birds…

For those of you who hunt doves, I get it: Most people just pop the breasts off, wrap them in bacon with a jalapeno and grill. The venerable dove popper, as this recipe is called, is fine food — but it isn’t the only thing you can do with a dove. This recipe page will help you with more ideas on how to cook doves.

Doves and pigeons are dark meat birds with very little fat on them. You can use small ducks such as teal with these recipes, but they will often have a layer of fat that a pigeon or dove will not. Ptarmigans, snipe and rails are excellent alternatives, though.

One dove is a good portion for an appetizer, three to four for a main course. Pigeons are larger, so one pigeon makes a light dinner main course — two is a bit much because the meat is so dense. Squabs are the same as pigeons: One to two per person.

I did a podcast episode all about doves and dove hunting, if you’re interested in listening to it.
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Plucking vs. Breasting

If you hunt your own doves and pigeons, I urge you to consider plucking them. They are the easiest birds to pluck, taking less than 2 minutes, once you get the hang of it.

Inreturn for your efforts, you get a pretty little bird on the plate, the breast meat won’t overcook as easily, and you get those little legs, which are so very tasty! I tend to keep the first wing digit, the drumette, on the carcass because it helps protect the breast meat.

Here’sa video on how to pluck a dove, done by Holly. You’ll see plenty of dove recipes for the whole bird below.

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Grilled or Barbecued Dove Recipes

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.

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Roasted

When the weather cools, roasting is your next best bet for doves and pigeons. Get your oven hot for this one...

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More Dove Recipes

Here are some other dove recipes that aren’t barbecue, grilling or roasting.

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