Culinary preparation effects on lipid and sensory quality of farmed gilthead seabream (Sparus aurata) and meagre (Argyrosomus regius): An inter-species comparison.

The nutritional and sensory quality of a fish fillet is subject to alterations depending on the culinary method used for preparation. The current study aimed to explore the effects of custom culinary preparation methods (steaming, oven-cooking, frying) on the fillet lipid and sensory quality of two important Mediterranean farmed fish species varying in their tissue fat content. These included, lean meagre and medium-fat gilthead seabream. The results indicated that culinary treatment effects on lipid quality differed among species, especially for frying. Frying created unique sensory profiles, whereas steam- and oven-cooking resulted in similar sensory profiles per species. The variable effects of culinary treatments on the lipid and sensory quality indicate that the choice of preparation method should be related to the fish species and its fat content.