I keep getting Google hits on this topic because of this post. Unfortunately that link doesn’t really help you handle a dove with the feathers still attached. No worries, it’s an absolute no brainer to clean a dove once you’ve done a few.
1) Get some doves and a pair of game shears:
2) Cut the wings off at the base (closest to the body):
3) Place the dove in your palm with the breast up and the head away from you. Find the soft spot underneath the breast and stick your thumb in:
4) Pull the breast free from the guts, head, shoulders and everything else:
5) Peel the skin off the breast portion:
6) When you’re done it should look like this:
Some alternatives? You can break the wing bones with your fingers if you don’t have game shears. It’s a good way to get a bone jammed through your thumb though. You can also skip straight to pulling the breast off (with the wings still on) and make one cut, like so:
The advantage of this method is speed, the disadvantage is that I think you lose some of the meat on the front of the breast. It’s hard to see exactly where to make the cut so you end up cutting some of the meat off. I’m also not sure it’s really faster.
Thoughts? Questions? Doves are one of my favorite wild game to eat. Enjoy!
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