First Lady of Kentucky Cooking knows butterscotch pie.

     Just because Irene Hayes is 86 and sits in a wheelchair doesn't mean she's lost charge of her kitchen."Go wash your hands," she commands.
     Mrs. Hayes has self-published two cookbooks - What's Cooking in Kentucky (Hayes Publishing; $22.95) and What's Cooking for the Holidays (Hayes; $22.95). She's agreed to show me how to make her famous butterscotch pie (with assistance from her daughter, Sharon Claypool) in her Northern Kentucky kitchen. A smart black suit sets off her snowy white hair. She's serious. Doesn't smile much. So I do as I'm told: I wash my hands.

Irene Hayes' cookbooks showcase Kentucky home cooking. (Michael E. Keating photo) | ZOOM |

    I stumble at the start - dropping an egg yolk into a bowl of whites. I quickly fish it out, hoping she hasn't seen my error.  
        "Stir it really good."
    Milk goes into beaten egg yolks, followed by brown sugar, flour and a touch of salt. This will become the filling for the pie. I barely remember eating butterscotch pie years ago. I do remember it tasting artificial, like something from a bottle. Mrs. Hayes promises her from-scratch pie will be better.
    I have no reason - much less the courage - to doubt her. An Ohio native, she met her husband, Rondal, at Wilmington College. He took her back to his home, Hueysville, near Pikeville in the hills of Eastern Kentucky, where the couple raised four daughters. She worked as postmaster in the little town of about 500, and cooked for her family.
        "That's why Kentucky cooks are better,'' she says, rocking in her wheelchair. "They  can't afford to eat in restaurants.''
    In the early '60s, when her church's elders decided their building needed a new roof, Mrs. Hayes volunteered to help by putting together a charity cookbook. She sent the word out to other postmasters around Kentucky: Send me your best recipes.  They began arriving by the dozens - chicken breasts with bacon from Lexington, burgoo from Fort Mitchell, homemade hominy from Prestonsburg. Mrs. Hayes deciphered the handwriting, typed and indexed the recipes and tested a few funny-looking ones on her family.  When Mrs. Hayes published What's Cooking in Kentucky in 1965, the book contained more than 800 recipes. It was, and probably still is, the best representation of home cooking in Kentucky.
          "That should start getting thick," she directs, as I stir the tawny filling on the stove.
    Sales from the cookbook bought a new roof, restrooms and a bus for her church. The elders were so pleased, they turned the book sales over to Mrs. Hayes in 1967. She continued to revise and update it. In 1974, a writer for the Washington Post praised the cookbook. Later, legendary food man James Beard cited it in his Cook's Catalogue.
     Mrs. Hayes has sold more than 200,000 copies of the first book, and thousands more of What's Cooking for the Holidays, published in 1984. Now she claims she has no more books or revisions in her. Mrs. Hayes moved to Lakeside Park in July with her husband to be close to three of her daughters - Ms. Claypool, Carol Hiller, Stachia Knorr and their families. (The fourth daughter, Karen Handshoe, lived in Winchester, Ky.)
     She had carpal tunnel surgery on her right hand this summer, and is considering surgery for her arthritic knees. She doesn't spend much time in the kitchen - unless it's to tell a beginner how to make pie - and allows she's "very satisfied not to cook now.''
          "You need to stir that constantly," she orders curtly, pointing a finger. "Raise the heat a little."
     Using a spatula in a cast iron pan, I coax white sugar into caramel. According to Mrs. Hayes' special recipe, the mahogany syrup goes into the thickened butterscotch to give it an extra flavor punch. After I drizzle it in, my mentor tastes the filling and nods hesitantly.
     I scrape the filling into the pre-baked pie crust (courtesy of Ms. Claypool) and then set about making the meringue, wondering if the stray yolk that contaminated the egg whites earlier will ruin everything.
          "Whip the whites until they're no longer wet, but not too dry."
     Thankfully, the whites turn out fluffy and glossy. I swirl the airy meringue on top, and Ms. Claypool watches the pie closely as it browns beautifully in the oven.
      After a lecture on the benefits of alternative medicine (she's a strong believer in the benefits of nutrition), Mrs. Hayes releases me with my butterscotch pie - minus one slice for her napping husband.
     For a first attempt, I think my pie is admirable. The feathery meringue holds up proudly. The filling is intensely buttery and rich with a hint of smokiness from the hand-stirred caramel.
     But later, Mrs. Hayes calls to leave a deflating message on my office voice mail:
             "That pie wasn't as good as it should've been. I think we made you cook it too long."
The First Lady of Kentucky home cooking does have her standards.
    This is from an article done for the The Enquirer  , by Chuck Martin Sunday, December 1, 2002.  We have the recipe posted under Recipes Mother's Butterscotch Pie  ( as used by Chuck Martin) if you would like to see how your own might have fared compared to Chuck Martin's.  Please let us know about your own experience.