Your email address is required to begin the subscription process. We will use it for customer service and other communications from Milk Street. You can unsubscribe from receiving our emails at any time.

Smothered Chicken with Bourbon and Miso
This is our adaptation of a recipe from “Smoke and Pickles” by Edward Lee. It's a fantastic Asian-inflected spin on an all-American favorite: smothered pork chops. A combination of umami-rich ingredients, woodsy bourbon and sweet-tangy orange juice produces a silky, deeply flavored mushroom sauce for smothering tender bone-in chicken legs. And to serve on the side? Steamed Asian rice or light, fluffy biscuits—the choice is yours.
4
Servings
Don't worry if you have the wrong variety of miso. We preferred dark miso, such as red (aka) or barley (mugi) miso, but white (shiro) miso is easier to find and more versatile. The sauce will be a little sweeter and milder, but still delicious.
50 minutes
25 minutes active
Ingredients
Directions
-
01In a small bowl, whisk together the soy sauce and miso until smooth. Whisk in the orange juice and set aside. Season the chicken on both sides with salt and pepper. In a large Dutch oven over medium-high, heat the oil until shimmering. Add the chicken skin down and cook undisturbed until well browned, about 5 minutes. Flip and cook until the second sides are well browned, another 5 minutes. Transfer to a large plate, then pour off and discard all but 2 tablespoons fat from the pot.
Pardon the interruption
You need to be a Milk Street Digital Member to see the full recipe
JOIN MILK STREET DIGITAL & PRINT
12 WEEKS FOR JUST $1
and get access to all of our recipes and articles online, as well as in print.
GET DIGITAL & PRINTThis was surprisingly disappointing, especially after the other 2 recipes I made from this site this week. It was fairly bland, had to add a lot of salt. Too much sweetness from the onions, I'd use less next time. No big flavor from the miso and bourbon (I did use white miso). Using chicken stock instead of water would probably help.
I thought this was very nice-subtle yet complex and satisfying. It had a hint of sweetness, and mine didn’t need any additional salt at all, but I did make sure to thoroughly season my chicken. I will probably reduce the onion the next time I make this because I found the flavor a bit too pronounced, especially since it’s only lightly sautéed.
I actually really enjoyed this recipe. If you are from the south you already know smothered pork chops. I don't know if all places in the world enjoy smothered pork chops and this could be a regional dish but this was much better than smothered pork chops I have had in the south. I think this magazine has really given me a appreciation for miso and what it can do to a dish.
Absolutely delicious. Rich and warm from the miso and whiskey, but not too fatty or heavy. I did use boneless, skinless thighs, browning them before stewing them in the broth mixture. Love that I can front load all the ingredients, leave it to stew for a bit, and end up with a flavor packed, tender and moist chicken dish. Perfect!
This chicken is delicious, I only wish I had made mashed potatoes to enjoy that gravy with.