In recipes it would be 2 cups cooked pumpkin. The best way to keep its flavor would be to bake in in the oven. Just bake at 350 degrees until it is soft and you can easily fork it. Boiling will make it more watery than baking.
The only safe way to can it would be to pressure can in cubes with added water. Pumkin pureed and pumpkin butter are not safe as they can lead to botulism. They are too thick to can.
I know that you, njoynit, didn't want to can it, but someone else mentioned canning it.
You can cook it and freeze it, too, if you have some left over.
I have also heard they mix squash in with the commercial canned pumpkin. Even sweet
potatoes. I don't know for sure if they do or not or if it is the variety of pumpkin that is sweet that they can.