RE: What's an easy way to eat a duck,dove,or goose?
OK, I'm not Martha Stewart but I've found you can make just about anything taste good if you know what you're doing. I respectfully disagree with a couple posters. One don't let it age in the refrigerator if you haven't gutted it. Yes you are allowing it to add flavor, but usually that is the gamey flavor that people try to avoid. Secondly as a card carrying Microbiologist, I strongly urge you to do your best to clean the game immediately and throroughly in hopes of not contaminating the meat with bacteria. Remember the bird has no immune system once you kill it so the bacteria are going to take over, it doesn't happen in an hour but in a couple of days it will.
On the other hand many great chefs let their cleaned meat (mainly big game/farm animals) hang for a few days to allow bacteria to soften the meat. You do NOT want the gut bacteria to do this however, so be cautious when doing this. Basically don't do this, let the pros do it. Your spouse and friends will never let you live it down if you get them all sick.
Now what we've found to be the best with the above mentioned birds is to just breast the animal. Don't screw around with gutting it, just take the breast out and throw the rest out. The neck, wings and legs just aren't worth the trouble.
Now you have tons of options with the breast meat, here are a couple of favorites. One... Cut the meat into bite size pieces and brown it in either a dab of butter or a bit of oil with chopped onions and garlic salt or pepper. Once it is cooked add you're favorite pasta sauce be it homemade or from a can and heat the combination of meat and sauce. Pour this over some cooked pasta and you're set. Often times the smaller the meat pieces the better with this method
Number two... As mentioned above you can easily BBQ, fry or bake the breast in no time at all. If you have favorite seasonings, coat the meat with them. If not go to the store and get a couple shakers of different dried powdered spices. They are abundant, try southwest, herb and garlic, or cajun spices as they are usually good. Sprinkly whichever one you want on the meat and cook with whatever form of heat (grill, oven, etc) available.
Finally there are a couple of good meat marinades that take just 30 or minutes or so to soak into the meat. They often come in dry packets that you mix with oil, water, and a bit of vinegar. Marinade for as long as your time will allow and throw on the BBQ, I like to save a little of the marinade and keep it away from the raw meat, then I gently pour this on top of the meat right before I pull the meat from the grill.
A lot of people who aren't into hunting have eaten the meat from these recipes and loved it. Trial and error is a must but these are really good, easy recipes to start with.