Fillet the breast, soak in salt water, use Zatarain's Chicken Batter or Kentucky Colonel, drop them into a Fry Daddy until 1/3 of the breast comes out of the oil. Done. Nothing fancy but better than Chicken Tenders.

Marinate, wrap in lightly precooked bacon, skewer with green pepper, onion, etc, grill over charcoal

Maybe not the best way for the first try at cooking doves, but I've got a buddy who can cook them in gravy. He slow cooks 50-60 of them several hours, and the meat literally falls off the bone. We have them with grits and homemade biscuits. It's the only way I enjoy doves that have been cooked this long. I currently hold the record with our group of friends for the most eaten in one sitting ........ 17. Oops, that was over the limit !

I "loves me some doves". SRH

I soak all my gamebirds, waterfowl included, in buttermilk overnight in the fridge. Then I dredge them in flour mixed with Italian seasoning, paprika, garlic powder and cayenne pepper then lightly pan fry them in a cast iron skillet.

If you use a microwave bacon cooker you can set the timer for 5 minutes and precook your bacon. Then just wrap it around your dove breasts and cook as you normally would. That should give you crispy bacon w/o overcooking the dove.

I don’t know there is a bad way to cook doves. I like them rolled around a cast skillet in butter . Salt and pepper to taste.

I completely forgot about this old thread :rotf: .

I cant remember if I asked but how is dove compared to quail ?
I know the phrase taste like chicken is used to compare everything .
I would say in my opinion though quail especially deep fried quail taste better than chicken .

Fried quail is my favorite meat on this earth. That said, I love doves, cooked several different ways.

Duck, too. Completely different taste for each game bird or fowl.

SRH

I have to agree fried quail is probably one of the best tasting birds you could eat .

Dove hunting is real popular here because they love the peanuts fields after harvest .

I took two dozen dove breast pieces deep fried after battering in Kentucky Colonel Seasoning to the United Daughters of the Confederacy Lee-Jackson-Maury dinner back in January (yes, we still celebrate our politically incorrect heritage down here). I put a note on them that these were a Southern delicacy that many Yankees could not get (songbird laws, you know who you are).

The guesses were chicken gizzards, chicken livers, robins. Only one lady who lets me hunt knew what they were. But everyone loved them.