Fork vs. Thumb

The art of gnocchi making has long been debated in Italy. Depending on the region in which you are from, even the pronunciation is different. The real debate, however, is how exactly the gnocchi should be formed. This is where the debate over the fork vs. the thumb comes in, but I will get to this a little later after I lay the basis for how to begin making your gnocchis.

Let's start with the ingredients. You will need:

5 large potatoes
1 1/2 cups of flour
2 egg yolks
1 tablespoon of olive oil

Salt

Ingredients

Now I will walk you through it step by step.

Step 1: Cooking the potatoes

Wash the potatoes thoroughly.
Put into large pot filled about half way with water.
Add a pinch of salt to the pot
Boil potatoes on medium heat for about 20-25 minutes.
Drain the water and put potatoes in a large bowl.

Peeled potatoes

Step 2: Mashing the potatoes

Mash the potatoes, either with a hand masher, or an electric mixer
Mix until potatoes are smooth and there are no clumps left. Clumps will cause the gnocchi to be lumpy and uneven.
Let the potatoes cool until they are room temperature.

Mashing potatoes

Step 3: The dough

Prepare the dough
Make a circular crater like structure on a large cutting board.
Pour the two egg yolks into the center of the crater.
Start pushing flour from the walls of the crater into the center where the egg yolks are, swirling the mixture together with your hands as you go.
Continue with this until the flour and egg yolks have been completely incorporated and a dough is formed.

Step 4: Preparing the dough

Knead the dough with your hands, making sure that your hands are floured at all times to avoid sticking to the dough.
Add flour as needed to make sure that the dough isn’t too sticky

When dough is finished place into a bowl with a clean damp towel over it.
Prepare the cutting board or clean table for rolling. Have flour sprinkled on the rolling surface and nearby in case the dough begins to get sticky.

Kneading the dough

Step 5: Rolling the dough

Break off a section of the dough and place on rolling surface.
Begin rolling the dough into a long medium sized roll.
Continue doing this until you have rolled all of the dough into rolls

Rolling Dough

Step 6: Cutting the gnocchi

Using a sharp knife of your choice, cut the rolls in pieces about one and a half inches long

Cutting gnocchi

Now we have finally reached the point of debate. FORK VS THUMB! Obviously the correct answer is thumb. The region of Italy where my family is from uses the thumb to get the unique gnocchi shape. I have personally tested both methods, and I find that using my thumb not only looks more unique and homemade, but it also saves time. The goal of indenting the gnocchi with either a fork or the thumb is to create a crevice to hold the marinara, or vodka(my person favorite) sauce. Rolling the gnocchi off of a fork creates standard looking lines that I find do a poor job of holding sauce, and look more processed. Rolling the gnocchi off of the thumb gives the gnocchi a nice shape and hold sauce in the center very well. 

Step 7: 

The most important step!
Take one of the cut gnocchis and place in on the table in a clear surface
With the outside of your thumb placed on top of the gnocchi put a slight amount of pressure on the gnocchi and push it forward away from you so it rolls
This forms an indent in the gnocchi that helps to hold the sauce in
DO NOT USE A FORK!

Do this!
Rolling with thumb

Not this!
Rolling with fork

Step 8: Cooking the gnocchi

Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil
Drop in gnocchis and cook until the gnocchis have risen to the top
Scoop out gnocchis as they rise to the top and place in a large dish

Put gnocchi in bowl

Step 9: Final touches 

Now for the sauce!

Vodka sauce or marinara? (chef's choice)

Pour the previously cooked sauce over the gnocchis, make sure it is nice and hot

Sprinkle with pecorino romano cheese

Gnocchi with sauce

Step 10: 

ENJOY!!