Dove, bacon, jalapeños, cream cheese and smoke, but in sausage form.

I’ll freely admit to loving poppers, but very rarely making them in favor of a whole bunch of other dove preparations. But, the combination of fresh jalapeños, fatty and smoky bacon, cheese and rich dove is objectively irresistible. 

This sausage serves to present those flavors, but also to really stretch a dozen doves’ worth of breast filets into a meal for a small crowd. The breasts here are divided with some being ground into the sausage along with the bacon and some fatty pork (I used some nice feral hog here), and the remaining breasts left in small cubes to give the sausage structure, texture and more essence of dove.

Grill or smoke these sausages, as you prefer. If grilling, do so over a moderate, smoky heat and not a direct, hot fire. If smoking, a 300°F fire, fueled by oak, mesquite, pecan or hickory, will be very nice.

Makes 3 pounds (about 9-10 links)

1 tsp Kosher salt

1 tbsp onion powder

1 tbsp garlic powder

1 tsp sugar

⅛ tsp Instacure #1, optional

24 dove breasts, divided: 12 breasts cut into large pieces and 12 breasts cut into ½” pieces

1 pound fatty pork

4-6 fresh jalapeños, stems removed, halved (remove seeds, if desired, for a less-spicy sausage)

8 ounces smoked bacon, diced

3 ounces cream cheese

3 ounces cheddar cheese, shredded

¼ cup ice cold water

Medium hog casings, rinsed and soaked in cold water

Mix together the salt, onion powder, garlic powder, sugar and Instacure in a small bowl.

Season the diced dove breasts with a little of this spice mix and put in the freezer for about 20-30 minutes.

Combine the fatty pork and large pieces of dove breast in another bowl and season with the remaining spice mix. Freeze for 20-30 minutes.

Grind the pork and dove mix through the medium plate of a meat grinder and return to the freezer for a few minutes, then grind it again through the medium plate along with the jalapeño peppers and the bacon.

Combine the ground pork, dove, pepper and bacon mixture with the diced dove, cream cheese, cheddar cheese in a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, or in a large bowl. Mix with the paddle on medium speed for about 1 minute, adding in the cold water, or mix with your hands until the mixture is tacky, sticky and homogenous.

Stuff the sausage into rinsed hog casings, then link into 6” links. Refrigerate for at least 6 hours or overnight, uncovered, until very dry to the touch. Cut into links and smoke or gently grill the sausages until cooked through, or an internal temperature of 155°F.