A Brace of Doves and a New Season
Sep 4th, 2009 | By Hank | Category: Hunting & Fishing Stories, Italian, Wild Game | Comments | 20 Comments |
The new hunting season has arrived, full of possibilities and new opportunities.
I’ve already shot my first-ever blacktail deer this year, and I intend to notch a string of other ”firsts” as the season progresses: hunting in Canada, chasing ruffed grouse, angling for steelhead trout, killing a limit of geese, and possibly even doing the same with snipe.
Lots of hope. And it all begins with doves.
Doves are an odd quarry. Like squirrels, suburbanites see doves all the time and think they must not be hard to catch. And because they make cooing noises, many think of them as songbirds, although biologically speaking doves (and pigeons) are far closer to pheasants and chickens. Think of doves as the cottontail rabbits of the air: Not overly bright, nimble, short-lived, prolific. Very fun to chase. And eat.
My little sliver of dove hunting history is that in 2003 I hunted them on the first morning the season had opened on them in Minnesota since 1947. I didn’t shoot a single bird. I did better in subsequent years. I was hoping this would be one of them when Holly and I went to a farm near Walnut Grove in the Delta with our friends Josh, Kevin and Paul.
Hunting opens a half-hour before dawn, and we were all vibrating with excitement — especially Kevin’s dog Ranger. Will we see doves? How many? Will we be able to hit the aerobatic birds? Are they here yet? Is it light enough yet? Where are they?
Calm down. Search the lightening sky. Listen for the whistle of their wings. Be still, let the world wrap itself around you, and disappear. Wait.
CRACK! A shot to my right. “Hank!” Holly called out just as I saw the dove she’d missed. It had been angling away from her — right over my head. I lifted, focused on the dove’s head and pulled the trigger. Crack! Down it went, not 10 yards from me.
An auspicious start. By the time I crossed the ditch to get to the downed dove, Kevin and Ranger were already there. ”I think the bird fell about here,” I waved my arm in a circle. “Uh, yeah. I’d say there.” Kevin said. nodding at Ranger. Ranger is a Labrador, but he will point on occasion. This was one of them. Easy retrieve.
The next dove that came by was a little farther out, and I missed with the second shot. But as Theodore Roosevelt once said, “As long as there is lead in the air, there is hope,” so I let the other barrel fly as I was twisting around to the left — and just as the dove cleared the top of a tree line I crumpled it.
Ugh. Great shot, but this would be a bitch of a retrieve. I dove down into the ditch again to head into the vineyard where I was certain the bird landed. Finding a dun-colored bird on the dun-colored ground isn’t easy, but I would give it a go. Just then I heard rustling in the vineyard, and out came Kevin, holding my dove. Ranger the Wonder Dog had found it right away.
And that was the end of my luck. I only saw one more shootable dove in the rest of the morning, and while I threw a little shot in the general direction of some barn pigeons, the action pretty much shut down after that. Josh wound up with one dove, Paul with another (his first-ever game animal!) but Holly and Kevin didn’t get any. (Holly, however, had an adventure of her own, which she wrote about here.)
A brace of doves. Not exactly a feast.
Fortunately I had prepared for this by thawing the last of my doves from the 2008 season (Thank God for vacuum sealers!), so we would eat doves after all. You may notice that I’ve plucked my birds, small as they are.
Most hunters breast doves out, and while it is true that most meat is in the breast, it is fun to nibble on the teeny drumsticks and wings — and besides, I like the presentation. If you are a dove hunter, try plucking your birds at least once: Plucking a dove is super-easy, and can be done in seconds once you get the hang of it. It is nothing like a duck or, God forbid, a turkey.
It just occurred to me that most of you have never eaten doves. They are not available in stores of any kind anywhere in the Western World, so far as I know. But they are strikingly similar to squab, which is a young pigeon. (Incidentally, you can order high-quality squab online here. I can vouch for Bob Shipley’s product, and I’ve seen his operation.)
The meat is dark like duck meat, and very lean. Because most doves are less than a year old, the meat is very tender (pigeons are often several years old, and can be quite tough). If you haven’t eaten squab, it’s like ostrich. OK, that probably didn’t help. Hmmm… Very fine-grained meat, red, juicy, tender. The closest next-best-thing I can steer you toward is skinless duck breast, veal tongue or — and this is a stretch — filet mignon. You get the idea.
As far as cooking is concerned, doves lend themselves to the grill, which is perfect, as the season is right around Labor Day anyway. A few years ago, I’d read a recipe for squab in Mario Batali’s The Babbo Cookbook
I also wanted to go with what Nature gave me. When cleaning the doves I’d shot this week, I noticed grains of barley in their crops among the many other seeds there; doves are almost exclusively seed-eaters. The first thought that popped into my head was “barley risotto!” But I did not have barley on hand. I did have farro, a primitive wheat eaten in the Old World since the dawn of agriculture 10,000 years ago. Yeah, I have a weird pantry. Sue me.
How to bring this dish together? I wrote a few months ago about wanting to design more dishes myself rather than relying strictly on cookbooks, and how a book called The Flavor Bible, which is essentially a book of ingredients coupled with a list of other ingredients that go well with each other, has been invaluable in helping me do this.
Using that book, I present to you: “Doves on the Feed.”
Grilled doves under a brick, just rubbed with olive oil and salted.
A farro “risotto” with porcini mushrooms, garlic, sage, white wine and goose stock. (BTW, barley would be just fine here, and it is easier to find.)
Tying it together: Porcini powder dusted on the doves, and then a drizzle of reduced fig syrup over it all, for some sweetness.
And to wash it down? A 2007 Holly’s Hill Grenache. Light and fruity, the wine picked up the sweetness of the figs but was heavy enough to hang with the farro and rich dove meat.
This was a damn good dish. Earthy, rustic — you have to pick up the doves and gnaw on them — with enough bright notes from the fig syrup to carry it. I’d be proud to serve this dish to anyone. It felt like fall. And a good start to what I hope is a great hunting season.
Want more dove and pigeon recipes? Here they are.
I’m waiting for my hunter friends to gift me with some dove (and more venison and wild boar). Your venison broth recipe turned out so well, I know the dove will be d-lish.
By the way, I have the Flavor Bible, too, and LOVE it. It’s affirming when flavors I have put together before getting “the bible” are flavors great chefs believe/know compliment one another.
Love your blog.
Looks yummy and oh so adorable on the plate. =)
I’m glad you had a good time. And that looks like a really good meal. I’ll try it on my dove.
By the way, I’m glad you mentioned Ranger. He’s a great dog, and it’s always fun to work behind a pointing lab. I’m sure Kevin will get you out on some pheasants, where Ranger really shines.
I don’t hunt (or fish) – but respect and appreciate those who do. Particularly when their skill and effort results in a fine meal of which I can partake. Wonder who I know that will be dove (or quail) hunting this fall?
Sounds delicious! Fabulous writing. I really enjoy your blog.
I lived in the Imperial Valley for many years. We’d breast the dove, wrap them with a 1/2 slice of bacon secured with a toothpick. Marinated them in teryaki then grilled them. Perfection. Moved to Montana last year and was ready to mourn the loss of my dove (get it… *mourn* the loss… ah well) when hubz got some sharptail grouse. Much bigger than dove but very close to the texture and taste. We prepared them same way… bacon & grilling. Love your blog and intend to use some of your sausage recipes come deer season!
Farro risotto=farrotto. My pantry may be as weird as yours, sir, I’ve got a bunch of it myself.
Karen: Aren’t sharpies lighter than doves? I seem to remember them being closer to pheasant than dove in color and texture.
Scott: Yeah, I know farro risotto is called farrotto, but I reckoned very few people would know what the hell I was talking about if I called it that. Maybe I’m wrong…
I know YOU knew, Hank. Just having a gag on you.
Nice looking birds Hank. It is kind of hard to find a good flight path for the birds here in Minnesota at the beginning of the season. Too much food still out there. Later in the season it gets a bit easier to position yourself between roosting and food.
And when you speak of Walnut Grove in the same post as Minnesota I pictured you shooting doves with Pa Ingalls.
Now that I live year round in Florida I miss the fall duck and pheasant hunting in Michigan. And our great retrievers. Never tried dove- but I DO have farro in my pantry. Chocolate & Zucchini (http://chocolateandzucchini.com/) has an old but super recipe for farro and zucchini.
WOW, you actually got my wife interested in trying dove. Now all I have to do is cook it the exact same way you did(yeah right).I also told Ranger about the comment and now he won’t stop bragging. See you on the next hunt.
Looks and sounds delicious!
oh yes sir! I was so happy for the first day down here–my sweetie came home with four, which we grilled Texas-style, wrapped in bacon, stuffed with jalapeno & onion. looking forward to a whole, full season (probably the last one for our very old yellow lab) and trying some of your dove recipes.
Can’t wait to try plucking my doves. Quick question for you.
Do you plunge the dove’s in hot water before plucking?
I noticed in the recipe you mentioned “turn grill to hot”. I would’ve bet my house you were a real charcoal man…
great writing mate, love dove. Haven’t eaten it in maybe 20 years though.
I hunted close to your location in nearby Galt. Me and a few of my buddies limited out in about 1 1/2 hrs. The doves were coming in flocks! I also used your suggestion to grill the doves whole, most of the hunters I was with looked at me like I was crazy until they tried them fresh off the weber. Nice and moist not dried out…perfect application for the little bird.
The only sharpies I’ve had were here in Montana. They are a very dark, red meat… very similar to dove. In fact, we got a couple more today!
Forget the meat, Holly’s Hill Grenache….. One of my favs! Since I’m in Spain at the moment, and came across pigeons, I’ll have to check out your recipes. The benefits of renting an apartment flat!
I’ll add to the breast filets wrapped in bacon list of recipes:
we always do our marinated in orange juice, then wrapped in bacon & grilled. tried it other ways, but that’s the one that seems to please best on our S. Oklahoma/N. Texas birds, and hungry hunters.
Very impressed with your plucked bird