Duke Haas with his pork roast and dressing (Photo: Andrew Weber/Sentinel-Tribune)

PERRYSBURG – Is it family that is most important to Duke Haas, or his family business, or his volunteer
musical gigs, or perhaps his cooking?
Best advice: Don’t make him choose.
They’re all quite crucial to the happiness of this hometown boy who’s "going on 83" but has as
many irons in the fire as any 33-year-old.
A 1946 graduate of Perrysburg High School who grew up on U.S, 20 a mile east of Lime City, Haas served
with the army in 1951-52, first playing in a military band stateside and then being shipped off to the
war in Korea for his second year of duty.
Back home in Perrysburg he joined the one-year-old business his dad had started called Haas Door Sales.
"In 1960 I changed the name to Haas Door Co."
Haas was a workaholic before it had a name.
"I worked 12-15 hours a day, seven days a week," growing the business into two separate
corporations. "One was a manufacturing division I sold in 1989. It had 125 employees then. The
other corporation was sales and service" which he held onto.
"So, no, I didn’t do the cooking then" he said of the years when he and his bride, the former
Betty Stein, were raising their family of seven children.
They were married in 1954, when she was 23 and he was 26. But they’d been an "item" for a long
time.
"I started dating her when she wasn’t quite 16!"
Three of their sons are in the business with their dad.
"I retired 20 years ago, but I didn’t really retire. I still help the boys out; I do a lot of
engineering, pricing."
When a visitor to Haas Door Co. a few weeks ago got to chatting with the employees, asking who was the
best cook among them, everybody pointed to Duke Haas.
"Since I retired, I pretty well took over the cooking" at home.
"My dad was a good cook and three out of my five sons are good cooks" so a male in the kitchen
is nothing unusual in their clan.
Haas is famous for three dishes in particular. Foremost is his roast pork with "Duke’s
Dressing."
It’s a recipe he just made up one day.
"I had a dressing before that was kind of flat, so I came up with what I’d do to enhance the flavor.
I didn’t make any changes after the first try. It tasted good, so I thought, why change it?"
The combination of fresh, chunky ingredients like diced apple, celery and yellow onion, paired with
country-style sausage, cream of mushroom soup and a particular brand of Pepperidge Farm stuffing mix is
brilliant.
"I have a granddaughter in the Akron area, Kim, who comes home whenever she hears I’m going to make
the dressing!" regardless of whether a holiday or family occasion is in the works.
And indeed, this is the combination the family expects at Thanksgiving and Christmas. He also makes it
for New Year’s as per the pork and sauerkraut tradition.
"The folks at work brag it up, and they’ve also had my chili."
Haas has thought a lot about what makes a perfect chili.
"Most people seem to make it hot, so all you taste is hot. I put as much diced tomatoes in as what I
do kidney beans and chili beans (a small can of spicy chili beans), a half a jar of medium-hot chunky
salsa – nobody does that! – and I put a heaping tablespoon of sugar to take the bitterness out."

For the meat he uses half and half ground round and sausage. "I don’t put chili pepper or any other
spices in it. It’s spicy enough between the spicy chili beans and the salsa.
And I never use salt when I cook; before or after. I like natural flavors, not artificial flavors. To me,
salt is a camouflage."
Then there’s his standing rib roast.
"I slice between the ribs about half way down, baste it with my favorite basting – a combo of
teriaki, white wine and lemon juice. And I use kosher rock salt. When you’re done, it’s coated solid
with rock salt, so everything is locked in. You don’t lose one bit of juice. You have to pile up the
salt on the sides to get it to stick."
When the roast is done, just tap on the rock coating to break it off.
With all the above going on, it’s hard to see how Haas, a grandfather of 15 and great-grandfather of two,
made time for music.
He’s a self-taught organist "with 1,250 songs in my repertoire. I play ’em all by memory; I don’t
read music."
For the past nine years he’s been singing and playing on a weekly volunteer basis for seven area senior
facilities, including Ster-ling House and Heritage Corner in Bowling Green.
"I play mostly Heartland and Perrysburg Commons right now.
"I play Big Band, country-western, show tunes, songs about places, about love, Rat Pack songs."

He chooses a single theme for each appearance.
Haas formerly played accordion, trumpet, trombone, bass fiddle, and guitar. For 20 years he had his own
band, the Mellow Men.
"I was so involved with the band until I realized my kids were growing up without me." So he
quit the band "and then realized an organ was a whole band in itself."

Duke’s roast pork
Pork loin roast of desired size
1 pkg. onion soup mix (Lipton or other)
Brown the roast first, then place in roaster. Mix onion soup mix with enough water for 1/2-inch moisture
in bottom of roaster. Bake in oven for 3 hours at 325 degrees.
When done, use moisture for gravy.
Duke’s dressing
1 pkg. Pepperidge Farm cubed Country Style Stuffing Mix
1 small (10 3/4-oz.) can cream of mushroom soup
1 stick (1/4 lb.) margarine
1/2 sweet yellow onion, diced
4 sticks celery, diced
1 apple, diced
1 lb. country-style sausage
1 round teaspoon rubbed sage
Paprika to taste
Put stuffing mix in large (approximately 12-by-14-by-2-inch) baking dish.
Melt margarine in 3 cups water. Saute’ onion and celery, fry sausage, put all contents in and mix with
stuffing mix. Sprinkle with paprika and garnish with parsley. Cover with foil.
Bake in oven for 30 minutes at 350 degrees, then remove foil and toast for 15 minutes. Remove and serve.