MasterChef 2020: Tessa’s steak dish baffles viewers

MasterChef: Back to Win fans were left scratching their heads when one chef’s plate was served to the judges.

MasterChef fans were left demanding answers after one contestant served up a plate missing a portion of the food they’d cooked in Tuesday’s immunity challenge.

When Tessa Boersma set down her steak dish down for the judges to taste, viewers were quick to point out that a sizeable chunk of her tomahawk seemed to be missing in action, despite the Kiwi chef cooking the entire cut.

And they weren’t impressed by the lacklustre plating.

This is something we could really sink our teeth into, thanks Tessa! 🧡 #MasterChefAU pic.twitter.com/D8N45aBodi

— masterchefau (@masterchefau) June 16, 2020

It failed to impress the judges, too, with Jock Zonfrillo quick to remark that he had “mixed feelings” about her creation.

“I think the steak's cooked further than it should be,” the Scottish chef said.

“You know, she had 60 minutes – more than enough time to cook that at a lower temperature,” he added before complimenting her vegetables and sauce.

Over on Twitter, fans were much less forgiving over the meagre portion size:

Did Tessa just cook that entire tomahawk to get one middle piece? What happens to the rest of if?!?! #MasterChefAU

— Noelle Perera (@noellemartine) June 16, 2020

What happened to the other 80% of the steak that Tessa cooked but didn’t serve? #MasterChefAU

— Robin Illingworth (@bobillingworth) June 16, 2020

Did Tessa shove the other 3/4s of the steak in her handbag for her dog?#MasterchefAU

— Nez (@fraggle73) June 16, 2020

So Tessa got two giant pieces of meat but presents only a tiny slice...what happens with the rest? I get that all this produce looks beautiful but what happens to all of it after they’re done shooting? #MasterChefAU pic.twitter.com/kswBEovyqc

— alina.k (@alinak13696961) June 16, 2020

Wait...that ribeye steak Tessa was cooking was huge #MasterChefAU pic.twitter.com/SYbT9fvXJN

— Michelle 🐿💨 (@MichelleMackey1) June 16, 2020

While many expressed concern over what they perceived as food wastage, fellow contestant Laura Sharrad told news.com.au earlier this month that the MasterChef team is committed to ensuring every morsel of food from the kitchen is either eaten or used elsewhere.

“Nothing is ever wasted,” Laura explained.

“Most of it is donated to food charity SecondBite.

“Some of the unwanted produce ends up in the garden’s compost. It’s so amazing to see all the split bin systems also in place to make sure everything is getting disposed of properly,” she said.

At the end of Tuesday’s episode — in which contestants had to choose to cook with more time and less ingredients or vice-versa — Reece scored the immunity pin for the second week in a row, blowing the judges away with his gin tart with quince and juniper ice cream.

The keen dessert master was the first to start his cook, using ingredients from under the first three cloths while Callum Hann, Tessa Boersma and Brendan Pang chose to wait it out.

Tonight’s impressive display secured him a frontrunner in the competition as the remaining seven chefs head into elimination on Sunday night.

MasterChef: Back to Win continues Sunday night from 7.30 on Channel 10.