Gemsbok fillet

Recipe credited to The Global Table: https://www.theglobaltable.com

Gemsbok fillet

Picture: Salvelio Meyer

Picture: Salvelio Meyer

Judy-Lee’s gemsbok fillet, which she serves on a wild mushroom and cabbage fricasse with a port jus, is a magnificent winter dish. We’d never tried gemsbok before but decided there and then that this was one of the best venison steaks we’ve had. Gemsbok is not always available, but try a good butcher or speciality meats store and they should be able to assist. Alternatively, any good-quality venison fillet should be a fair substitute.

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Venison Wraps

RECIPE CREDITED TO ALL RECIPES: http://www.allrecipes.com

Venison Wraps

Venison Wraps
LESAXTON

1 h 35 m 4 servings 306 cals

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Classic Wild Game Meat Pie

Article credited to The Deer Slayer’s Wife: http://www.thedeerslayerswife.com

Classic Wild Game Meat Pie

cutco, pot pie, osso buco 021There are certain times when a savory meat pie hits the spot like nothing else. I have no doubt that Sherlock Holmes would eat a delicious meat pie.   Make it with wild game (venison, elk, nilgai, wild pork) and it can’t be beat.  The ease with which this dish is prepared makes it perfect for leftover turkey, chicken, goose, or pheasant as well.  It has become my go-to recipe when I’m looking for something rich, delicious, and healthy that can be made with any leftover meat (or cooked-all-day game), veggies and a yummy crust.

 

This picture does not include potatoes or pie crust. Oops! The bowl of small, red orbs is actually pearl onions. Use ’em or don’t as you like.

1 1/2 lbs. Cooked-all-day wild game (venison, elk, nilgai, wild pork or leftover turkey, goose, pheasant, or chicken) cubed

4 tbsp. butter
Splash of olive oil

8 oz. crimini mushrooms (or more…. or none) sliced

Tommy’s salt & pepper mix

2 carrots, sliced

2 stalks celery, finely chopped

2 small red potatoes, cubed

1/2 cup canned or frozen peas

32 oz. box of beef, chicken. or veggie stock or homemade stock

6 oz. Guinness beer (Drink the rest!)

3 tbsp. cornstarch

Kosher salt, fresh-ground pepper

1-2 tbs. worcestershire sauce

2 cups any awesome cheddar, grated

one prepared pie crust (or one  homemade crust)

In heavy cast iron skillet, saute mushrooms in butter & olive oil. Season with Tommy’s salt & pepper mix.

In another sauce pan, bring stock to a boil. Add carrots, celery, and fresh, peeled pearl onions (or frozen). Cook until tender. Add potatoes.  Cook for another ten minutes. Using slotted spoon, transfer veggies to skillet with mushrooms.

                                                                                    Toss in peas and shredded or cubed meat. Return  stock to heat, reserving 1/2 cup. Add the 1/2 cup and cornstarch to a jar, seal and SHAKE, SHAKE, SHAKE.

Add Guinness and stock-cornstarch mixture to remaining beef stock. Boil on medium heat until thickened. Pour all into cast iron skillet and heat through. Season with kosher salt and fresh-ground pepper.

 

 

Stir in grated, awesome cheese.

 

For days when I don’t feel like making crust from scratch, I lay a ready-made crust over the top of the ingredients.  Cut slits to let steam escape, roll the edges for a popular rustic appeal, and paint top with an egg wash.

 

cutco, pot pie, osso buco 018Bake for 35 minutes at 350 degrees until crust is golden.  Easy Peasy!  Once again, you have maintained your title of  “Hunting Queen/King of the Universe”.

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Slow Cooker Venison Stroganoff Meal

Article credited to AllRecipes: http://www.allrecipes.com

Slow Cooker Venison Stroganoff Meal

 

Slow Cooker Venison Stroganoff Meal

Kristi Hartsfield Whittington

“This easy version of stroganoff is delicious!”

Ingredients

4 h 30 m 4 servings 790 cals

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Bison Stew

Article credits go to All Recipes: http://www.allrecipes.com

Bison Stew

 

 

 

“This is a great tasting and easy stew using bison meat. Bison is lower in fat, calories, and cholesterol than most other meats. It’s great for a heart-healthy diet.”

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Herb Rubbed Buffalo Steak

Recipe courtesy of Ethic Foods R Us: http://www.ethicfoodsrus.com

Herb Rubbed Buffalo Steak

Bison (Buffalo) meat is just as, if not more, tasty than beef. And, it is much more lean and healthy for you. When you prepare this Herb Rubbed Buffalo Steak recipe, and are a beef eater who is not familiar with bison, you may be surprised at how comparatively short the cooking time is. This is because buffalo meat is so lean. And the flavor is incredibly delicious.

Herb Rubbed Buffalo Steak

(Photo Attributed to Author: Jeremy Keith)

Herb Rubbed Buffalo Steak Recipe

Ingredients:

(serves 8)

Directions:
  1. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
  2. In a small mixing bowl, combine and blend the paprika, salt, black pepper, garlic and onion powders, oregano, thyme, and cayenne pepper; stir in the olive oil, mix thoroughly, then set aside for now.
  3. Cut away most of the layer of fat, but leave a little, because buffalo meat is so lean, you want some fat to make the cooked meat nice and juicy.
  4. Spread the seasoned oil mixture all over the surfaces of the slab of meat. Rub the seasoning into the meat well.
  5. Now place the seasoned and rubbed meat on a rack in a shallow roasting pan.
  6. Roast in the oven for 15 minutes at 375 degrees, then reduce the temperature to 300 degrees and roast for just another 25 to 30 minutes for rare, 35 to 40 minutes for medium well, and 45 to 50 minutes for well done.
  7. Remove the roast from the oven, wrap the slab tightly with foil, and allow to cool and “set up” for 10 – 15 minutes.
  8. Carve the roast into nice thick slices, and serve your Herb Rubbed Buffalo Steak dinner. Goes great with baked potatoes and any favorite vegetable side dish.

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JALAPENO DOVE POPPERS

JALAPENO DOVE POPPERS

Ingredients:

De-boned dove breasts

1 can jalapeno peppers

1 tub cream cheese

Bacon

Toothpicks

1. Pre-heat grill

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Dove Tortellini

Dove Tortellini

Hunter. Angler. Gardener. Cook.
Hunter. Angler. Gardener. Cook.

What you need:

For the dough

  • 10 ounces of all-purpose flour, about 2 cups
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 ounce of water, about 3 tablespoons

For the filling

  • 6 doves
  • salt
  • 3 tablespoons duck fat, butter or olive oil
  • 4 large garlic cloves, unpeeled
  •  1/4 cup sweet white wine or sherry
  • pinch of celery seed
  • 1 teaspoon minced fresh rosemary
  • black pepper to taste

For the sauce

  • 5 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 1 tablespoon fresh rosemary
  • 8 juniper berries, mashed
  • Grated pecorino or parmesan cheese, for garnish

What to do:

  1. To make the dough, make a well in the flour and drop the eggs and water in. Scramble the eggs in the center with a fork and then incorporate the flour until you get a shaggy mass. Knead this well for 6 to 8 minutes, then wrap the dough in plastic wrap and set aside for an hour.
  2. To make the filling, salt the doves well while you heat up the duck fat in an ovenproof pan. Pat the birds dry and brown them well on all sides. When you start this process, preheat the oven to 350°F. Once the doves are browned, add the garlic cloves to the pan and pop it into the oven and roast for 30 minutes.
  3. Remove the doves and garlic to cool. Set the pan on the stove and deglaze with the sweet wine. Scrape down the pan to incorporate everything. Let this boil for a few minutes, then turn off the heat. Pick off all the meat from the doves.
  4. Chop the meat and garlic roughly and add it to a food processor. Add the celery seed, rosemary and black pepper, as well as some of the liquid and fat from the roasting pan and mix everything into a fairly smooth paste. Taste and add salt if you need to.
  5. Roll out the dough in a pasta maker or with a rolling pin. Use something round to cut out circles for tortellini. Put a heaping teaspoon of filling in the center of the circle and fold it into a half-moon, and wet the edges with a little water to seal. This recipe makes about 40 to 45 tortelli, or twice that many tortellini if you make them small. Set each one on a baking sheet that you’ve dusted with semolina flour or fine cornmeal.
  6. To finish, melt the butter in a wide pan and add the juniper and rosemary. Keep this over low heat while you boil some water. Boil the tortellini until they float, and then for 1 minute more. Move to the butter, toss to coat and put them on the plate. Grate some cheese over them and serve.

Dove a la Mancha

 Dove a la Mancha

Hunter. Angler. Gardener. Cook.

What you need:

  • 12 doves, or 4 to 8 squab or teal
  • Kosher salt
  • 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • 12 bay leaves
  • 12 to 24 sage leaves
  • About 1/4 cup melted bacon fat, butter or duck fat
  • Spanish smoked paprika
  • Freshly ground black pepper

What to do:

  1. Coat the doves with olive oil and salt them well. Stuff each breast with sage and a bay leaf.
  2. Get your grill hot. Set the doves breast side up and cook them over medium-high buy metronidazole 200mg tablets heat, with the grill cover closed, for six minutes. Open the grill cover and turn the doves over. Brush the birds with some bacon fat. Let them cook this way for a minute or two, just to get a little crispy. Turn the doves on their sides and grill for another minute or two — for each side. Brush with more bacon fat.
  3. Dust with the smoked paprika and the black pepper and remove from grill. Let them rest for five minutes.

Cornbread Casserole with Doves

Cornbread Casserole with Doves

Grit

What you need:

  • 8 dove breasts
  • 1/2 cup chopped celery
  • 1/4 cup sliced green onion
  • 2 tablespoons snipped fresh parsley
  • 1/4 cup butter or margarine
  • 3 cups corn bread stuffing mix
  • 1 cup upland game bird stock or chicken broth
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried marjoram leaves
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/8 teaspoon pepper

What to do:

  1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a casserole dish.
  2. Saute celery, onion, and parsley in butter over medium heat until tender.
  3. Add remaining stuffing ingredients. Mix until moistened.
  4. Place half of stuffing mixture in prepared casserole. Arrange dove breasts over stuffing.
  5. Cover completely with remaining stuffing mixture.
  6. Bake, uncovered, until dove is cooked through and tender, about 1 hour.

Recipe courtesy of: Grit Magazine

Helen’s Dove and Dumplings

Helen’s Dove and Dumplings

Mobile Bay Magazine
Mobile Bay Magazine

What you need:

  • 8 cups chicken broth
  • 5 stalks celery, chopped with leaves
  • 3 small onions, chopped
  • 3 tablespoons garlic, minced
  • 1 cup mushrooms, sliced, optional
  • salt and pepper, to taste
  • 25 doves, cleaned
  • 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for dusting work surface
  • 3/4 cup water
  • chopped parsley, optional for garnish

What to do:

  1. Boil chicken broth with celery, onions, garlic, mushrooms, salt and pepper.
  2. Add doves and simmer until tender, about 20 – 30 minutes. Remove doves to cool. Return broth to a boil.
  3. Meanwhile, lightly flour a work surface. Mix flour with water to form a ball of dough, not too sticky.
  4. Roll dough into a very thin rectangle. Cut into strips. (A pizza cutter works well.) Pull each strip up from surface, stretching slightly to make even thinner.
  5. Drop strips into the boiling broth one at a time. Cook for approximately 20 minutes.
  6. Shred dove meat. When dumplings are cooked, add shredded dove meat to broth and adjust seasonings. Serve garnished with parsley. Serves 8.

 

Grilled Doves, Portuguese Style

 Grilled Doves, Portuguese Style

Leite's Culinaria
Leite’s Culinaria

What you need:

  • 4 to 5 large garlic cloves, finely chopped
  • 4 to 5 bay leaves, crumbled fine
  • 4 to 5 small hot chile peppers (ideally piri-piri peppers, but Thai are fine)
  • 1 tablespoon sweet paprika
  • 1 tablespoon minced fresh rosemary
  • 1 tablespoon sea salt
  • 1 cup sweet white wine, ideally white Port or Madeira
  • 1/2 cup olive oil
  • 1 tablespoon honey (optional)
  • 12 to 16 whole doves, or substitute 4 to 8 whole squab
  • Freshly ground black pepper, for serving

What to do:

  1. Place all of the ingredients except the honey, doves, and black pepper in a food processor or blender and blend until smooth, about a minute. Pour the marinade  and the doves into 1 or 2 large resealable freezer bags and toss in the fridge overnight.
  2. The next day, transfer the doves to a plate and bring marinade to a boil in a small saucepan. If you want a hit of sweet and a little spicy, like a Portuguese BBQ sauce, add the honey.
  3.  Get your grill really hot. You want the temperature to be at least 550°F (287°C) although 600°F (315°C) is better.
  4. Place the doves on the grill, breast side up. Cover the grill and cook the doves, undisturbed, for 4 to 6 minutes, depending on how done you like them. Around four minutes will result in medium-rare doves.
  5. Remove the birds from the grill and let them rest for at least a few minutes. Pour the rest of the warm sauce over the breats and grind some black pepper on top.

Recipe courtesy of: Leite’s Culinaria

Orange & Rosemary Grilled Doves

Orange & Rosemary Grilled Doves

In Sock Money Slippers

What you need:

  • 18 to 20 whole doves plucked*
  • 2 tablespoons grapeseed or canola oil
  • 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
  • 2 cups fresh orange juice (about 4 large oranges)
  • zest of 1 orange
  • 1 tablespoon rosemary, chopped
  • 2 tablespoons honey
  • 1/8 teaspoon pepper
  • pinch salt

What to do:

  1. Prepare grill. Brush doves with oil and season with salt and pepper. While the grill is heating, prepare the glaze by combining the orange juice, orange zest, rosemary, honey, pinch of salt, and pepper. Bring to a good simmer over heat and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes until it has reduced and thickened.
  2. When the grill is ready, place the doves on the grill, breast up. Grill for three minutes with the cover on. Remove cover, do not flip, and brush the glaze on each bird. Cover and grill for 9 to 11 minutes depending on how well cooked you like your dove.
  3. Remove the doves to a serving platter.

Recipe: Cast-Iron Seared Venison with Maple Marinade

Recipe: Cast-Iron Seared Venison with Maple Marinade

Are you hungry yet? Use it on a freezer steak, or save this one for a fresh cut from deer camp.  Either way, start off with super sharp knives so you can carve juicy, succulent slices of tender, tantalizing medium-rare meat for any steak sandwich you want to create. That is, if you don’t gobble them up hot off the grill first!

Maybe you are thinking a VBLT (venison, bacon, lettuce and tomato) as shown in the photo above, or maybe elk sliders? In the past, I’ve combined the tongue wagging slabs from this recipe with thick-cut bacon, heirloom tomatoes, griddle grilled sweet potato, lettuce, and a peppered wild plum aioli spread for a VBLT.

I’ve also used them to make elk sliders that will knock you silly. Build this sandwich on mini pretzel buns with a double soft cream cheese, slaw, and an onion ring for garnish. This maple marinade is well suited for venison, elk, pronghorn, mountain goat, moose, bison or any other large game animal.

How to Make the Marinade:

Ingredients for Vermont Maple Seasonings Marinade (for approximately 1.5 pounds of meat)

2 tablespoons brown sugar­­

1/8 teaspoon fennel

1/8 teaspoon ginger

1/8 teaspoon sage

1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

1/8 teaspoon thyme

1/8 teaspoon paprika

1 pinch cayenne

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon black pepper

5 teaspoons olive oil

1 tablespoon maple syrup

2 jalapenos quartered lengthwise

Mix all ingredients into a paste. If desired, add more seasoning according to what your taste buds are telling you. Halve the mixture and then massage into meat tissue on each side. Wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate 2 to 24 hours.

When you are ready, heat the griddle to medium high. You don’t want it too high or your brown sugar and maple syrup components will burn. When the griddle is hot, drizzle some olive oil on the pan and lay on the steak, searing the first side. Don’t flip flop the meat from one side to the other. Leave it alone.

After 5-7 minutes, turn the meat and allow to char for another 3-5 minutes. The absolute best way to serve this cut is medium-rare to rare, so take care of that steak you worked so hard to harvest!

Throw on the jalapenos, seeds and all, and char. A bite of one of these along with a jigger of whiskey, or Kentucky bourbon, will warm you like nothing else when you come in from your deer stand or down off the mountain.

Remove steak and jalapenos and let rest for about 5 minutes. Slice thin and devour. Or, prepare this succulent bite as the hero ingredient in a steak sandwich of choice (below).

 

Orange & Rosemary Grilled Doves

Orange & Rosemary Grilled Doves

In Sock Money Slippers

What you need:

  • 18 to 20 whole doves plucked*
  • 2 tablespoons grapeseed or canola oil
  • 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
  • 2 cups fresh orange juice (about 4 large oranges)
  • zest of 1 orange
  • 1 tablespoon rosemary, chopped
  • 2 tablespoons honey
  • 1/8 teaspoon pepper
  • pinch salt

What to do:

  1. Prepare grill. Brush doves with oil and season with salt and pepper. While the grill is heating, prepare the glaze by combining the orange juice, orange zest, rosemary, honey, pinch of salt, and pepper. Bring to a good simmer over heat and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes until it has reduced and thickened.
  2. When the grill is ready, place the doves on the grill, breast up. Grill for three minutes with the cover on. Remove cover, do not flip, and brush the glaze on each bird. Cover and grill for 9 to 11 minutes depending on how well cooked you like your dove.
  3. Remove the doves to a serving platter.

Recipe: Rustic Smoked Grouse Pizza

Similarly, the season offers an opportunity to honor the glorious admiral of the green sea when the harvest is prepared and shared. In my kitchen, dishes enjoyed by a small clutch of family, or friends, often take the form of starter plates. I do this for two reasons: First, experience has taught that reluctant wild game eaters can be converted to big game plates if they are introduced to wild game flavor profiles slowly and on a graduated intensity-of-flavor scale. Second, by sharing and showcasing the deliciously simple flavors of wild sustainable meats, important dialogue is created around the table.

I serve non-hunters often, but when they taste wild food it immediately connects them to something primal. At first mouthful, they experience the flavor of the land, and hunting in a way they never imagined — why it is necessary to preserve public hunting lands, invest in creating and maintaining habitat for species such as ruffed grouse, and what motivates hunters. All of these are topics that come to the table as lively discourse.

There is something about breaking bread, putting good food in people’s bellies, and pairing it with good wine that creates community, fellowship — and empty wine bottles — like nothing else.

Grouse breasts on the chopping block before smoking.

In keeping with the upcoming upland season, here’s a recipe for a rustic smoked grouse pizza, with pear, arugula, shallot, gruyere cheese and a blackberry drizzle. The smoky character of the grouse, the accompanying peppery bite of arugula, tang of BBQ sauce, and sweetness of blackberry drizzle makes for a mouth-watering appetizer sure to delight your guests, and encourage great conversation.

P.S. Never mind the geometry of your pie — only taste matters!

Ingredients for the pizza.

Ingredients:

  • 1 smoked grouse breast, meat removed
  • 1 tablespoon BBQ sauce
  • Fresh pizza dough
  • 1/2 red pear thinly sliced
  • 1 1/2 heaping cups arugula
  • 1 shallot sliced thin
  • 1 crushed garlic clove
  • 3/4 cup shredded Gruyere cheese
  • 1/2 pint blackberries
  • 2 tablespoons fresh orange juice
  • olive oil
  • cracked salt and pepper
Smoked grouse breast wrapped in streaky bacon with sprigs of rosemary.

Method:

In a small pan, over medium heat, combine blackberries, (reserving a few for garnish), with orange juice. Simmer until berries are soft. Pour mixture into a small strainer or sieve, then push through to remove seeds. Return to pan and reduce juice by about 1/3. Whisk cooled juice with a bit of olive oil, salt and pepper to make the sauce. Set aside.

When you are ready to make the pizza, preheat your oven to 450 degrees. If you like to bake on a pizza stone, by all means use it. I don’t have one, so I bake on a preheated cast iron flat griddle instead.

Grab your pizza dough and roll, pull and stretch until you have a workable shape and a desired thickness. I do this on the back of a lightly-floured jelly roll pan to ease slipping into the oven and onto the cast iron griddle.

Drizzle dough with olive oil and use crushed garlic clove as a brush to coat. Crack a little salt across the top and scatter with some herbs if you like.

Smoked grouse meat drizzled with BBQ sauce.

Toss the pulled smoked grouse breast with BBQ sauce to coat lightly.

Spread arugula, pear and shallots over the crust. Add pulled grouse and shredded Gruyere. Slip carefully off the pan and onto the hot stone or griddle. Bake until crust is golden and cheese is bubbly.

Rustic grouse pizza fresh from the oven.

Top the pizza with blackberry reduction and then serve.

Rip it, tear it, cut it up. No matter the method, it’s delicious.

 

Huckleberry Grilled Doves

 Huckleberry Grilled Doves

Hunter. Angler. Gardener. Cook.

What you need:

  • 12-16 doves
  • salt
  • olive oil
  • 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 1/2 cup chopped onion
  • 2 garlic cloves, chopped
  • 2 cups blueberries or huckleberries (fresh or frozen)
  • 1/2 cup tomato puree
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 1 cup cider vinegar
  • 2 teaspoons dry mustard
  • 1 teaspoon cayenne
  • 1 teaspoon minced fresh rosemary

What to do:

  1. Salt doves well and let them rest while you make the sauce.
  2. To make the sauce, heat the butter. Sauté the onions for two minutes, then add the garlic and cook another minute. Mix in the remaining ingredients and simmer gently for 30 minutes, stirring gently.
  3. Turn off the heat and allow the sauce to cool a little. Pour it into a blender and puree, then return to clean pot. Keep warm over low heat.
  4. Coat the doves in the oil and get your grill very hot. Grill the doves breast side up, with the cover down, over medium-high to high heat for two minutes. Lift the cover and cover them with the BBQ sauce. Cover the grill again and grill for another 8 to 10 minutes, depending on how well-done you like your doves. Remove to a platter and add a little more sauce.

Dove & Fig Kabobs

Dove & Fig Kabobs

Georgia Pellegrini

What you need:

  • 16 dove breasts
  • 16 fresh figs or dried figs reconstituted in water
  • 1 cup red wine
  • 3/4 cup teriyaki sauce
  • 3/4 cup barbecue sauce

What to do:

  1. Carve dove breasts from the bone and set aside.
  2. In a saucepan, add the red wine, barbecue sauce and teriyaki sauce and whisk together.
  3. Let simmer for 10 minutes.
  4. Transfer the marinade to a bowl and dip the dove breasts into the liquid. Let soak for 1-4 hours.
  5. When ready to cook, set the oven to broil.
  6. Slice the figs in half and skewer the dove breasts and fresh figs.
  7. Place on a sheet tray with a rack and cook in the oven for 10 minutes, rotating the skewers halfway through.
  8. Let cool and serve at your dinner party! These are great appetizers.

Hot Fried Doves

Hot Fried Doves

Texas Monthly

What you need:

  • 12 whole doves, plucked and gutted
  • 1 cup buttermilk
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 4 tablespoons honey
  • 4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
  • 3 tablespoons hot sauce
  • 4 thinly slice jalapenos
  • 1/4 cup fresh herb leaves, such as parsley or marjoram
  • kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • oil or lard, for frying

What to do:

  1. Halve the birds, effectively removing the breastbone.
  2. Soak the halves in buttermilk for 6 to 12 hours in the refrigerator.
  3. Remove the birds from the buttermilk, season well with salt and pepper, and dip in flour.
  4. Shake off the excess flour and refrigerate them for at least half an hour.
  5. Heat a few inches of oil to 375 degrees in a fryer or large pot.
  6. Melt the butter, then combine it with honey, garlic and hot sauce in a large bowl.
  7. Fry the birds in batches until golden brown and crisp, approximately 3 or 4 minutes.
  8. Drain on a paper towels.
  9. Toss the fried birds with the melted butter mixture, add the jalapeños and herbs.
  10. Serve immediately.

Grilled Doves a la Mancha

Grilled Doves a la Mancha
doves la mancha recipe
Prep Time 15 mins
Cook Time 15 mins
Total Time 30 mins
This is a really easy dish to make, but you do need the bay leaves and fresh sage, 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. Figure on 2 doves per person for a light lunch or an appetizer, or 3 to 6 for a main course. If you don’t have access to doves, squab is a great alternative. You could also do this with teal ducks, too.
Course: Appetizer
Cuisine: Spanish
Serves6 people
AuthorHank Shaw
Ingredients
  • 12 doves, or 4 to 8 squab or teal
  • Kosher salt
  • 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • 12 bay leaves
  • 12 to 24 sage leaves
  • About 1/4 cup melted bacon fat, butter or duck fat
  • Spanish smoked paprika
  • Freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
  1. Coat the doves with olive oil and salt them well. Stuff each cavity with sage and a bay leaf.
  2. 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.
  3. 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 Rioja red wine, a California Pinot Noir or an Italian Barbaresco — and a bowl to put the bones in. A simple tomato salad is a good accompaniment, as is a loaf of crusty bread.