How Do You Grill Your Dove?

September 11, 2013 by ~The South Dakota Cowgirl~ Leave a Comment

I’m by no means an expert on cooking wild game. But as luck would have it, I don’t have to be. I’ve got friends (Tom and John) who’re masters at cooking wild game.

Dove season opened here (like it does pretty much everywhere) on Labor Day and Tom was nice enough to share his “catch” with us!

He was a good sport and played along because we all know that if you’re in my life, you’re fair game for blog fodder.

Anyway, I thought I’d share the wonderful goodness that were these delightful little birds. I actually love to dove hunt, but as it happens, life keeps me pretty busy, so I’ll just live vicariously through The Adventures of Tom and John.

This is a three step process (after the birds are cleaned, of course – and I don’t clean birds, so I’ll leave that part out and to the hunters):

1. Make a yummy marinade.

Marinade recipe:

1/3 cup soy sauce
1/3 cup honey
1/3 cup oil (I used olive oil)
1 tsp each of ground ginger, ground mustard and garlic salt

It’s best to let the dove sit all day (or so I’m told) but we didn’t have all day. We had about 4 hours. So we added a touch of vinegar to help speed up the “marrying” process.

2. De-seed and chop some jalapeños and split the breast into two pieces.

3. Start the grill, turn the heat to low, make a tray from tin foil, and get cooking. It will take about 10 minutes to cook.

Doesn’t it look tasty?

And finally, you’re ready to enjoy this goodness. And believe me, it is goodnessssssssss…

How do you cook Dove?

Happy Trails!

About ~The South Dakota Cowgirl~

Jenn Zeller is the creative mind and boss lady behind The South Dakota Cowgirl. She is an aspiring horsewoman, photographer, brilliant social media strategist and lover of all things western.

After a brief career in the investment world to support her horse habit (and satisfy her mother, who told her she had to have a “real” job after graduating college), she finally took the leap and stepped away from a regular income; trading the business suit once and for all for cowgirl boots, a hat, and jeans. She has not looked back.

When Jenn first moved to The DX Ranch on the South Dakota plains, she never imagined she’d find herself behind a camera lens capturing an authentic perspective of ranching, and sharing it with others. Jenn has always been called to artistry, and uses music, writing, images, home improvement, and her first true love of horses to express her ranching passion.

Horses are the constant thread and much of her work centers around using her unique style of writing to share her horsemanship journey with others in publications such as CavvySavvy, the AQHA Ranching Blog, the West River Eagle, the family ranch website, and her own website.

Using photography to illustrate her stories has created other opportunities -- Jenn’s brand “The South Dakota Cowgirl” has grown to the level of social media “Influencer”. This notoriety has led to work with Duluth Trading Company, Budweiser, Wyoming Tourism, Vice, Circle Z Ranch and Art of the Cowgirl, to name a few. She also serves as a brand ambassador for Woodchuck USA, Arenus Equine Health, Triple Crown Feed and Just Strong fitness apparel. Her photography has been featured by Instagram, Apple, TIME Magazine, The Huffington Post, and Oprah Magazine. Jenn’s work has been published internationally, has been seen in several books and has graced the covers of several magazines.

Jenn became a social media influencer by accident when she started to explore Instagram as a way to share her life on the ranch with folks that don’t get to experience it. It’s grown into an incredible platform that she uses to empower women, create an environment for self improvement and share life on the ranch.

When she’s not working, she loves to drink coffee, play with her naughty border collie named Copper, start ranch colts, and run about the country chasing cans. Her mother still thinks she doesn’t have a “real” job.