I've been using Long Island cheese pumpkins for years. I find them milder in flavor. I have never used canned pumpkin for a pie because I prefer the flavor of fresh pumpkin. While there are many dishes -- potato salad, beef stew, roasts -- that I never make the same way twice in a row, I have a standard pumpkin pie recipe involving pumpkin, heavy cream and molasses. Ruth Reichl once recommended abandoning fresh pumpkin for the smoothness of canned. Frankly, if you blend the pumpkin with the heavy cream, eggs and molasses (saving a few steps), it is produces a custard as smooth as a custard made from the canned vegetable.

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