Miso-Smothered Chicken (SP)

• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 4 bone-in chicken thighs
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 cups chopped yellow onions
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 1/3 cup bourbon
• 2 cups chicken stock
• 1/2 cup fresh orange juice
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon dark miso
• 8 ounces shiitake mushrooms, stems discarded, thinly sliced
• Cooked rice for serving

Mix flour, salt, cayenne, and garlic powder together in a bowl.  Coat thighs evenly in mixture and brown until golden.

Finished up the rest of the mise while cooking the chicken.  No, I didn't use fresh orange juice since I didn't have to use its zest anywhere.

Even though the secret is that I have plenty of oranges in the fridge and I'm not eating fruit on the reg as much as I used to.

Cook onions over medium-low heat until softened and golden.

Add garlic and cook for one minute.  Then add bourbon and cook until all the liquid has evaporated.

Add in everything except for the mushrooms, cover, and simmer until chicken is cooked through and tender, approximately 30 minutes.

Add mushrooms and simmer, uncovered, until sauce is thickened to the consistency of a gravy.

Out of the 5 dishes so far that I've have cooked from Smoke and Pickles, I think this is the only one that didn't wow me.  Growing up in a Vietnamese/Chinese household, the dish doesn't have much to distinguish itself from all the stuff I ate growing up.  That food was good, but I like adventure.
I'm not sure why I thought miso and bourbon and orange juice would make any difference.  Maybe I just cooked the dish since it was one of the few recipes left in that book that was really accessible for the single cook.