Dove and Pigeon Recipes
Photo by Holly A. Heyser
Doves and Pigeons (squab when you buy them in a store) deserve their own category because they are dark meat birds with very little fat on them. You can use small ducks such as bufflehead or teal with these recipes, but they will often have a layer of fat that a pigeon or dove will not.
If you catch your own doves and pigeons, please – please! – pluck them and keep them whole. They are the easiest birds to pluck, taking only seconds once you get the hang of it. You get in return for your efforts a beautiful presentation and those little legs, which are so very tasty! Remove the wings from a dove (you can throw them into the stockpot, however) and all but the first wing joint on a pigeon (this is the “drumette” piece).
Save the livers for a ravioli recipe.
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 – two is a bit much because the meat is so dense. Squabs are the same as pigeons: One to two per person.
- Pigeon or Dove Tortelli, a filled pasta
- Roasted dove, squab or pigeon with green sauce
- Turkish Roast Pigeon or Squab with Bulgur and Walnuts
- Deep-Fried Doves, Middle Eastern style
- Fried Dove Breasts, with a sunflower seed crust
- Grilled Doves a La Mancha
- Italian Grilled Dove Florentine, with good olive oil and lemon
- Cajun Grilled Doves
- Japanese Grilled Teriyaki Doves
- Grilled Doves Desert Style, with a prickly pear BBQ sauce
- ‘Doves on the Feed,’ grilled doves or squab with barley or farro risotto and porcini mushrooms
- Doves on Toast, with quail eggs, maple-brandy gravy and mint gremolata
- Dove Roulades, with a saffron-corn sauce
More about Doves and Pigeons:
