Hey from Hank Shaw: Dove Season Recipes

Published: Thu, 09/02/21

Dove Season!

Hey there,

Happy dove season 2021, everyone! Hope your first day went well, and that you have many other chances at these aerobatic, yet tasty birds. I thought you might be interested in some dove recipes to help inspire you for after the hunt.

I kinda have to start with the classic, or at least my take on it. It's my rendition of a dove popper, with peppers, bacon, dove breasts, and instead of cheese, roasted garlic.

But the dish I am most known for, at least when it comes to doves, is grilled Doves a la Mancha, a Spanish-inspired grilled dove dish that uses fresh herbs and smoked paprika.

Doves are best cooked over fire and smoke, so I have a lot of recipes that use grills or smokers.

Barbecued doves, which is the picture above, are slow cooked and slathered with your favorite sauce.
Smoked doves, where you brine them first, smoke really slow, and then serve with a Mexican guajillo chile sauce.
Huckleberries are in season in the West, so I made a huckleberry BBQ sauce for doves that works really well. Blueberries are fine, too.
Grilled teriyaki doves are easy, and amazing.

But there's a lot of other great ways to cook doves in the kitchen. Here are a few favorites:

Dove breasts served with Southern tomato gravy. Think teeny chicken fried steaks.
Deep fried doves. 'Nuff said.
My friend Jesse Griffiths does a great recipe where you fry small birds and then sauce them with honey and hot sauce. They're really good.
Finally, if you have lots and lots of doves, grind them and make this absolutely show stopping pasta sauce. Sugo de piccione is a real-deal Italian sauce that you'll want to learn.

I have even more recipes in my upland bird cookbook Pheasant, Quail, Cottontail, and you can buy a signed copy from me here.

Thanks for your support, and good luck with the rest of the season!

Hank Shaw

Hunter Angler Gardener Cook