Persimmon Bread Pudding, page 162

Bread pudding is something I've had a lot, it seems like, but have never made. Maybe that's because I like it enough to eat it if it's offered to me, but not quite enough for make it myself. However, it's winter and the list of wild ingredients we have in to keep going with the woods to food project is slimming, so it seems about the right time to make persimmon bread pudding.

We froze enough persimmon pulp in the fall to get through most of the persimmon recipes in the book. That's wild ingredient #1 for this recipe. Wild ingredient #2 is pecans and we still have pecans in the fridge.
I bought a nice loaf of rustic french bread from our local bread bakery, Uprise, for the recipe. That was a good choice. The crust is firm while the bread in the loaf has body without being to rough.
It was a fairly simple recipe to put together with 4 cups of milk, four eggs, a stick o' butter, rum, raisins, etc.
We had my cousin and family over for dinner. I  was glad to hear that Ben, my cousin's husband, really likes bread pudding but rarely has it. At least that was one person who was looking forward to the dessert. And, as far as how the dessert faired: two kids ate all theirs, two kids didn't care for it, and I think the adults were pleased, though I was the only one who went back for seconds.
When I served Oliver a bite of the bread pudding, he mentioned it made his tongue feel funny. Why I couldn't figure out what he was talking about, when it's PERSIMMON bread pudding for goodness sake, is crazy. But, somewhere mid-piece on my own serving, as my mouth felt funny, it occurred to me what Oliver was referring to. The persimmons in the bread pudding were not all ripe! Ooops. You know that weird sensation you get in your mouth when you bite into an unripe persimmon (and if you don't, it's kind of a right of passage thing, you really should try it)? Well, there was a slight sensation of that in the dessert. Strangely that didn't ruin it, though.
Anyway, would I make this recipe again? Yep. Am I dying to make it again? No, not really. But, I think that has more to do with bread pudding not being a favorite in my family than anything with a faulty recipe. I think it was good bread pudding, in fact better than Fred was prepared for, but I like to see a little more elation before I make a recipe again.