Bacon Wrapped Dove Breasts and Dates - Dove Poppers Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What do you soak dove meat 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. Sprinkle the breast with garlic powder before putting them on the grill.

One dove is a good portion for an appetizer, three to four for a main course.

Working in two batches, fry the doves in the oil for 4 minutes. Roll them around a few times as they cook so that all sides are brown and crispy. Remove from the oil and place them on a platter lined with paper towels to cool.

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. It's actually very mild and much like any other lesser-cooked dark-fleshed game meat. If you cook it past medium-rare, it starts to get agamey edge to it.

The dryness can also be overcome by soaking dove breasts overnight in marinade. 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.

In a covered container, soak the dove breasts in buttermilk overnight in the refrigerator. Remove breasts and discard buttermilk. Pat breasts dry with a paper towel. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

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.

A dove is a very lean, dark-meat bird that most wild game chefs will recommend you cook until medium rare in the 130 to 135 F window, similar to duck or goose.

After cooking for one hour, baste each dove breast with the glaze. Cook for an additional hour or until the dove breasts reach the internal temperature of 165 degrees F. Remove and serve.

Mourning Doves are much larger than Common Ground-Doves and have a long, tapered tail scalloped in white.

How do you store dove breasts? ›

Wash whole doves and dove breasts to remove all feathers and bloodshot meat as possible before storage. Vacuum seal or store the meat in a zip-sealed bag and bleed as much air as possible out of the bag before placing in the freezer.

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).

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.

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.

After refrigerating the dove breasts in brine for 24 hours, remove and rinse in cold water. Soak the dove breasts in water for 90 minutes, changing the water once. Air dry the dove breasts on a oven rack for one hour. While the dove breasts are drying, set your smoker or pellet grill to 225 degrees F.

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.