I don't get fingerling potatoes

[Jenise]

Everywhere I look these days, there are fingerling potatoes. Magazines, cooking shows, cookbooks--everywhere. And I, I don't get it. Yes I have bought and cooked them a few times. Never found them to have a flavor or a texture that is noteworthy let alone special: in fact, rather the opposite on texture. Some pink ones in a pink/white mix I bought once were rather nice, but the white, or would they be called yellow, ones were especially firm and unyielding in the same amount of cooking time. And several other experiences with fingerlings have been similar.

If you've had a different experience, I'd like to hear from you.

I feel the same way...tried them boiled, sautéed in butter, roasted...nothing special. I do think they make an attractive presentation. I liked them best baked, and served them to really good friends as baked potatoes, two to three on a plate, with the condiments I knew they liked. The women thought "they were the great" "so cute", "just adorable". The men just gobbled them down.

I think the WOW! effect comes from cooking them freshly dug from the ground but as such, any freshly dug potato is a WOW!

We enjoy them baked. Nothing against most any other kind of potato either. Certainly wouldn't get fingerlings to mash!

I get them. I buy local, organic at the farmers market. I scrub them and saute in duck or goose fat with coarse sea salt. Maybe add a few thyme sprigs, but that's all you need. When they are very fresh, they have a sweetness that week old potatoes (like those sold in a "mix") do not.

[Jenise]

When they are very fresh, they have a sweetness that week old potatoes (like those sold in a "mix") do not.

Okay, so the key is having them quite literally right out of the ground and all those sold in supermarkets, even if they're local, are likely already over the hill. Thanks, that's a difference I can understand.

I boil them for about 5-6 minutes, slice them in half lengthwise, and put them in a baggy w/ Evoo and salt. When I've grilled some bone in chix breasts until almost done, I put the fingerlings on the grill for about 3 min per side. Toss with more salt and some fresh ground pepper when done. Yum!!

Chef Matt Hill of Charlie Palmer Steak here in DC, at the foot of Capitol Hill, has a side dish of Pancetta Braised Fingerling Potatoes. It is out of this world; the cooler it is out the more I want to have some. Frankly, it's why I go have lunch there once in a while. I do realize, though that the Potatoes are just a vehicle to get the Pancetta into my mouth.
I like Bob's grilling idea and will try that this next weekend.