jmcquown wrote:
>
> You can cook a russet potato in the microwave and call it baked.
> But it's not, really. It's not nearly as good as a russet that
> has been pricked with a fork, skin rubbed with butter, sprinkled
> with salt and baked in a hot oven. IMHO, of course.

Usually when baking potatoes I'll bake a half dozen in the oven, then
I'll reheat the extras in the microwave... only a minute per and we
find no real difference from right out of the oven... in fact that's
what a lot of restaurants do.
But when in a hurry I'd rather boiled potatoes than nuked from raw...
and again I'll boil extras... we really enjoy boiled spuds smashed
with butter and/or plain yogurt. We also like cold boiled potatos
smashed with plain yogurt... goes well with pickled herring or plain
left over cold fish.
There's always a way to use left over baked/boiled... baked can be
restuffed, boiled makes great home fries, or potato salad. I don't
remember ever cooking just two potatoes... there's got to be a zillion
ways to use left over baked/boiled potatoes... smash em and add most
anything and form patties to fry. And there's always hash. Easiest
is diced into a frittata.