This is a really easy dish to make, but you do need fresh herbs, and Spanish smoked paprika is important to this dish. Many good supermarkets offer it, and you can also buy it online. If you can't find smoked paprika, regular sweet paprika is OK.
Prep time: PT15M
Cook time: PT15M
Total time: PT30M
Rating
4.98 stars (41 reviews)
Keywords
dove, grilling
Ingredients
12 doves, (or 4 to 8 squab or teal)
Kosher salt
3 tablespoons olive oil
12 bay leaves
12 to 24 sage leaves
2 sprigs rosemary, (cut into short lengths)
About 1/4 cup melted bacon fat, (butter or duck fat)
Spanish smoked paprika
Freshly ground black pepper
Categories
Appetizer
Main Course
Cuisine
Spanish
Steps
Coat the doves with olive oil and salt them well. Stuff each cavity with sage, rosemary and a bay leaf.
Get your grill hot and clean the grates. Set the doves breast side up and cook them over medium-high heat, with the grill cover closed, for 6 minutes. Open the grill cover and turn the doves over so the top of the breast is wedged between grill grates. Paint the birds with some bacon fat. Let them cook this way for a minute or two, just to get a little color. Turn the doves on their sides and grill for another minute or two — for each side. Paint with more bacon fat.
Dust with the smoked paprika and the black pepper and move the birds to a platter. Let them rest for 5 minutes. Eat with your fingers and serve with a bowl to put the bones in. A simple tomato salad is a good accompaniment, as is a loaf of crusty bread.
Nutitrion
Serving Size: 1 serving
Calories: 63 kcal
Carbohydrates: 0.2 g
Protein: 0.02 g
Fat: 7 g
Saturated Fat: 1 g
Sodium: 0.2 mg
Unsaturated Fat: 6 g
Reviews
STACEY GUTHRIE on 2024-01-12 (5 stars): I have prepared doves countless ways over the many years of hunting them, this is by far the best. It's the only way that I fix them now. They are excellent!
Colton L. on 2023-01-05 (5 stars): I think this may have been the greatest thing I've ever eaten in my life! I will never breast a dove ever
Dan S on 2022-09-06 (5 stars): So good!
Nate Johnston on 2021-09-12 (5 stars): Incredible Hank!! Thank you!
Jay Snider on 2021-09-09 (5 stars): Delicious!
Justin Westervelt on 2021-09-08 (5 stars): Once I got the hang of plucking them the prep work went pretty quickly! I added a bit of thyme and some rosemary but I'm not sure you really need to add anything to this recipe. Delicious!
Bill on 2021-09-08 (5 stars): Great recipe for when I’m feeling fancy. Let’s the delicate flavor come through that so often gets overshadowed by your standard popper or other heavy handed flavors. Bird, herbs, fire.
Dave K on 2020-10-27 (5 stars): I spent this year’s banded tail pigeon season sitting on several productive spots only to be outsmarted every morning. And then a Eurasian collared dove few in. First time plucking a bird and it turned out pretty easy. Then I found this amazing recipe. The directions are simple. And the eating of a whole small bird reminds me of picking a crab. The bacon fat kept the bird juicy and didn’t overpower the flavor. I now have a quail in the fridge that is getting made into the same thing!
Rebecca on 2020-10-27 (5 stars): Best ever dove dish and so easy!
Richard P. on 2020-09-02 (5 stars): This simple dish is really my favorite way to cook doves. I’ve tried many recipes but I keep coming back to this one. Doves, some basic ingredients, a flavorful fat and fire. Beautiful in its simplicity and simply delicious.
Andy Spencer on 2020-05-06 (5 stars): Pluck those dove, save bacon fat, pick some sage, buy some smoked paprika. Dont over cookem. Great recipe.
Josh Hoffman on 2019-09-05 (5 stars): Hank,
I tried this recipe last September during the early dove season here in Arizona. Fantastic! And they present beautifully as well. My son, who was 5 at the time, has been retrieving for me and developing a real enjoyment for dove season; well he could not get enough of the dove cooked this way. He and I went out yesterday after work for our first dove hunt of the season and as we were bouncing down the dirt road he informed me that he already knew how we were going to cook our little birds: the same way as last year :) That just means I'm going to need to get enough to also try the smoked dove recipe you just posted. Keep up the amazing work!
Ed Curry on 2018-06-15 (4 stars): My wife and I really enjoy this recipe. However, I shoot mostly Eurasian doves and, since they are much larger than mournings or white wings, this timing doesn't work. I would appreciate your timing recommendations for Eurasians.
