Tater math...

-1 potato per serving OR 1# per 4-servings OR approx. 15-pounds for 40 servings (increase slightly for seconds or leftovers)

-Options besides microwaving: slow cooker.
I have a Thermal Cooker that is perfect for holding hot food for a prolonged period of time, as well. I also have several Wonder Ovens I made this summer I use to transport and keep hot foods hot or cold foods cold (see link below).

-Look on-line for "make-ahead" or "do-ahead" mashed potatoes. I use my recipe for "Freezer Mashed Potatoes".

5# potatoes
Peeled (or not, if not, scrub them well) and prepared as usual. Drain and mash adding 6 oz. cream cheese, 1 c. sour cream and 1/4 c. butter. I don't add garlic or chives if making for a crowd or if freezing. The garlic and chives get stronger when frozen so I "doctor" them up when I reheat them.

-Grainlady

Here is a link that might be useful: Wonder Box

I made these potatoes this year for Thanksgiving dinner. So easy to do. No peeling the potatoes. Everyone thought the were very tasty. Doubling the recipe would probably be enough servings for your group. If a double recipe is made it may take longer to cook.

Slow Cooker Garlic Mashed Potatoes
PREP TIME: 15 MINUTES START TO FINISH: 3 HOURS 45 MINUTES 14 SERVINGS
3 Ib small red potatoes (2 to 3 inch)
4 cloves garlic,finely chopped
2 tablespoons olive or vegetable oil
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup regular or reduced-fat chives-and-onion cream cheese spread (from 8-oz container)
1/4 to 1/2 cup milk

1. Spray 4- to 5-quart slow cooker with cooking spray.Halve or quarter potatoes as necessary to make similar-
size pieces. Place in slow cooker. Add garlic, oil, salt and
water; mix well to coat all potato pieces.
2. Cover; cook on High heat setting 3 hours 3O minutes
to 4 hours 3O minutes or until potatoes are tender.

Mash potatoes and garlic in the slow cooker crock, using fork or potato
masher. Add cream cheese; stir until well blended.
Stir in enough milk for soft serving consistency. Serve
immediately, or cover and hold in slow cooker on Low
heat setting up to 2 hours.
HIGH ALTITUDE (35OO-65OO FT): No change.

PER SERVING (V2 CUP EACH): Calories 12O; Total Fat 4.5g; Sodium 23Omg; Dietary Fiber 2g

Look for chives-and-onion cream cheese spread
with the other cream cheese products in the dairy department. Use any remaining cream cheese spread in sandwiches or in vegetable dip.

This is the recipe our family has used for years. It is great because everyone likes them and I can make them ahead of time. It is easily doubled or tripled. When making large batches I cook the potatoes in a large canning pot and mash in smaller batches. I put them in a foil pan for easy transport. If I need to take them warm I wrap in foil, then in towels and put in a cooler to transport.

Mashed Potatoes

5 lbs. russet potatoes
6 oz. cream cheese
1 cup sour cream
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp onion salt (don't omit)
pepper
2 tblsp. butter
Peel, cook and drain the potatoes. Mash and add all ingredients. Place in casserole dish and dot with butter.
You can make this a couple of days ahead and keep in the refrigerator.
Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Longer if refrigerated.

This is all very, very helpful. Thank you so much.

Do not microwave. The best mashed potatoes I ever had were those that were served at David Bouley's restaurant in NYC.

He used Yukon Gold. Cook the potatoes and then drain and then cook for a few minutes more without water. The point is to dry them out.

Then add butter and/or heavy cream, heat that while mixing with a big spoon, and put through a ricer or Chinois - it's a conical kind of colander that has a big wooden stick to push food thru the holes - you use it to make applesauce or stuff like that. And then put the potatoes thru again. Even better is to put them thru the ricer, keep heating those and drying them out, and then adding the cream and putting thru a second time.

Use at least a tablespoon of butter and a tablespoon of cream for each potato. You can use a lot more if you want - anywhere from 4:1 to 2:1 works. If you use enough heavy cream, as I do, you can eliminate the butter.

If you don't serve these fresh, you can keep them in the fridge. Pipe them into a baking dish first and they'll look nice when you take to your host. They can put them in the oven and lightly brown them like potatoes duchess, which is what I'd do, rather than microwave.

So what's the "science" behind it?

You want the potatoes to cook but you don't want them to absorb water. That's why many people cook them in the skins. That's fine. But you really want to dry them out before mashing, because too much water will cause the cells to expand and explode and you'll get a gelatinous kind of mess.

If you use really young or waxy potatoes, you get a gooey product, so you want to be sure you have starchy potatoes. But if you beat them with a mechanical beater or even your masher, you break up the starch cells and the starch gets released into the water or liquid and that's like cornstarch thickener - makes the potatoes gooey.

So use starchy potatoes, make sure you dry them out, and then use a LOT of butter or heavy cream. NOT milk or half and half - the point is not to add water, it's to add butterfat. Recipes calling for cream cheese or stuff like that are trying to make the potatoes creamy because most people don't do it right and that way you can hide some flaws.

That can be very delicious, but all you really need is a ricer, potatoes, and cream. Bouley was one of, and according to some people, THE best restaurant in NYC and they charged you a lot of money for the simplest preparation of those delicious potatoes. It's not actually his recipe as far as I know - it's used by most of the better French restaurants in town.

BTW - if you have a ricer with holes on the side, be very careful because you'll spray potatoes all over the wall!

Good luck!