Dear Rabbi

Dear Rabbi,

I recently discovered that my grandmother’s recipe for chicken soup calls for a small amount of bacon grease. This came as quite a shock because our family has always considered it our “traditional Jewish chicken soup.”

For years, I’ve proudly served it to friends while talking about family heritage and old-world traditions. Now I’m wondering whether Grandma was secretly rebellious, whether someone accidentally copied the recipe incorrectly decades ago, or whether I’ve been unknowingly serving the least kosher chicken soup in North America.

My wife says I should simply leave the bacon grease out and move on. My brother insists that changing the recipe would be disrespectful to Grandma’s memory. My cousin says we should keep the recipe exactly as written and just stop asking questions.

Rabbi, what should a person do when family tradition and religious tradition appear to be headed in opposite directions?

Confused in Cleveland