Doves: Are you game?

McClatchy Newspapers (MCT) - In places like central Kentucky, an afternoon dove shoot kicks off the hunting season. Hunters head to the fields to await the arrival of a flock of doves, and a good hunter can bring home a dozen or so birds, ready to cook. It takes at least that many to make one good meal.

Hunters usually grill the tiny birds, but they also are delicious smoked, baked or deep-fried. Wrapping the breasts in bacon flavors the meat, but the more adventuresome cook might want to prepare the birds with a glaze of juniper, gin and orange.

Stephen Atkins, executive chef at the Signature Club of Lansdowne in Lexington, Ky., recommends using the glaze to marinate the meat for at least a couple of hours, then slathering the meat before and after grilling.

"I also think that smoking the birds, then finishing with a coulis of persimmon and roasted shallot would be a bit more subtle and the sugars would complement the gaminess," he said.

That's a great idea for the gourmet cook, but most likely the hunter will bring home the birds and cook them the easiest way possible.

Chef Cornelious Cunningham said the most common recipe for doves is to bake them with country ham and jalapeno peppers.

Cunningham, the food-service production manager at Cardinal Hill Rehabilitation Hospital, is one of the chefs who prepare the wild game for a fund-raiser held at the hospital every year. His suggestion: Layer a small sliver of country ham and one sliver jalapeno pepper on top of a dove breast, and wrap them together using a slice of bacon. Grill or bake in the oven.

Make a sauce by reducing red wine until thickened, or reducing whole-berry cranberry sauce with balsamic vinegar, he said.

If cooking quail, which also are small, marinate the breast overnight in a mixture of red wine, lemon juice, olive oil, celery and onion. Place all ingredients in a gallon zipper bag and refrigerate two hours or overnight.

When ready to cook dove or quail, place a package of wild rice in a pan and cover with the amount of water the directions recommend. While that cooks, pour wine into a saucepan and ­reduce to about half. When the rice is done, spoon it into a ­casserole dish and place dove breasts on top of the rice. Cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees. Baste every 5 minutes with the wine reduction. Doves should be done in 20 to 25 minutes.

Small dove breasts are great appetizers when deep-fried. Cunningham suggests dipping the doves in an egg wash, then coating with flour and seasoned croutons that have been crushed into crumbs. When golden-brown, serve with a sauce made with 1 cup mayonnaise, 3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce and 1 ­tablespoon mustard.

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If the dove shoot is a bust, and you bag just one or two birds, don't give them away. Clean them and freeze until the next shoot, so you'll have enough to share with a friend or two.

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Picking and plucking game birds

Buying:

The age of a bird has a bearing on how good it will taste. Those younger than a year old will be very good, but any older than that and the meat starts to toughen up and dry out.

The bird should obviously look fresh, and it if has been plucked, the skin should be dry not moist. If it still has its feathers, look for bright eyes that are not sunken or dull. The feathers should have a luster to them and not be dull and lifeless. If the bird smells strong, you might think it's off, but it is more likely to have been hung for a while. Some people prefer their game to be strong-tasting. You should be able to buy hung or reasonably fresh, depending on what you prefer.

Hanging:

Pheasants and woodcock should be hung for 5 to 7 days, snipe for as long as 5 days, grouse and partridge for 3 to 4 days. One day is enough for wild duck, and quail doesn't need to be hung.

Plucking and singeing:

Plucking a game bird is easy. You need to hold the bird in one hand with the head away from you and the breast up. Using your free hand, and starting at the neck, grasp a few feathers at a time and, giving a sharp tug towards the head, pull out the feathers. Never try to pull out too many feathers at once. If you keep the skin taut as you pluck, it'll be less likely to tear. Work your way back along the breasts, then the legs. Tail and wing feathers are much tougher and need to be removed one at a time. Once plucked, the bird needs to be singed to burn off any fine hairs not removed by plucking. Simply pass the bird over an open flame.

Storing:

Game can be frozen, but you should prepare it as though you were going to cook it, discarding the insides (unless you're cooking woodcock), then freeze it.

Source: "Jamie at Home: Cook Your Way to the Good Life" by Jamie Oliver

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ROAST OF INCREDIBLE GAME BIRDS WITH PROPER POLENTA

You can use whatever game is available or combine game birds with chicken for this British-flavored recipe

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1 pheasant, spatchcocked (butterflied), washed and patted dry

1 guinea fowl or 2Ľ pounds chicken, spatchcocked, washed and patted dry

1 partridge, washed and patted dry

2 wood pigeons, washed and patted dry

4 quails, washed and patted dry

1 small bunch fresh rosemary

1 small bunch fresh thyme

1 lemon or orange, zested

1 red onion, peeled and roughly chopped

4 sticks celery, trimmed and roughly chopped

4 carrots, peeled and roughly chopped

4 Italian sausages

A few fresh bay leaves

Olive oil

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 pound polenta

1 wineglass of red wine (recommended: Chianti)

˝ cup butter, divided

2 handfuls freshly grated Parmesan

Extra-virgin olive oil

Preheat oven to about 500 degrees.

Either ask your butcher to spatchcock the guinea fowl or chicken, and the pheasant, or have a go at doing it yourself: Turn the bird upside down and cut underneath the legs with a good pair of scissors. Remove the bony part of the carcass that has no meat on it (bearing in mind that you want to save the incredible meat around the legs) and open the bird out like a book. You can then stuff the cavities of the other birds with flavorings _ a sprig of rosemary, a sprig of thyme and a little orange or lemon zest.

Place the onion, celery and carrots in a large roasting pan (or 2 small ones) and lay the ­sausages and birds on top. Throw in the bay leaves and the rest of the thyme and rosemary. Drizzle with olive oil and massage it into each bird. Season all the meat generously. Place in the preheated oven and immediately turn the temperature down to 350 degrees. Cook for 1 to 1˝ hours, turning the birds a few times, until the meat is juicy and cooked through to the bone.

After half an hour, bring 1 quart of salted water to a boil in a non-stick pan and whisk in the polenta. Turn the heat right down, place a lid on so it's ajar (otherwise the pan might spit hot polenta at you) and simmer for 50 minutes, stirring it as often as you can. If it starts to become too thick, add some more hot water.

Remove the birds from the oven, lift them out of the pan and keep warm. Put the pan on the burner, pour in the wine and simmer gently to make a quick sauce. Then see to the ­polenta _ it'll need some serious perking up now. Stir in about ľ of the butter and all the grated Parmesan. Once it's smooth, taste and season if required. It should now be delicious. Spoon all the polenta onto a big board or platter, spread it out evenly and put to one side to firm up a little.

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Give your sauce a stir and add the rest of the butter. Strain it through a sieve into a pan, pressing down hard. Cut the bigger birds into drumstick thighs and breast pieces, and place with all the other birds on top of your polenta. Slice the sausages and add to the pile. Spoon the red wine sauce over the top and finish with a drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil. Put the board in the middle of the table and let everyone dive in.

From "Jamie At Home, Cook Your Way to the Good Life" by Jamie Oliver

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© 2008, Lexington Herald-Leader (Lexington, Ky.).