Years ago I worked for a high-end delicatessen that was associated with a great butcher shop. They made their own smoked bacon and trimmed it and sliced it so that every slice was a work of art. That left plenty of trimmings, which we chopped and fried and sold as fresh bacon bits. One of the items on our catering menu was green beans with various seasonings, butter and lots of bacon bits. One morning I arrived to work and was asked to make up a hotel pan of green beans, which I promptly did by opening up four large cans of beans and preparing them in our usual way. Then I had a horrible thought and ask the manager who they were for. They were for the luncheon that I was to serve at noon and the client that I would be serving was a business that was owned by a wonderful Jewish Family. Although the meal was not requested to be kosher, we always respected the dietary requirements of whatever culture we were serving. I rushed to make another pan of beans and there were no more in the pantry and no way to get any more. I had to serve those beans. I did it with bated breath. I thought I had gotten away with it when the owner approached me and said he had to talk to me about the beans. My heart sank. Then he asked me for the recipe. He said that they were the best beans he had ever had in his life and would I please give him the recipe so that his wife could make them for him. I think I crossed my fingers behind my back as I told him that they were made with butter and Bacos, those horrible imitation bacon bits.
After that, we made sure that we never ran out of beans especially since it became one of our most popular items. However, in addition to the bacon bits we had to start stocking Bacos, because the word was out and all of our Jewish clients started requesting beans with those wonderful Bacos.
