Wait, what?

Okay, I'll summarize my point because you seem to be misinterpreting me a lot. I never changed my stance. If it seemed like I did, it's because I didn't care to elaborate or argue with you about minor points.

Souma did nothing special to beat the trace skill. Everything you enumerated that he did, DID happen, and I naturally acknowledge that, but they aren't special. Special is subjective, and as such, you can't stop me from classifying them as such or not.

My scenario illustrates something that I do think is special, because 1) Souma acts out of character by actively tricking an opponent, and 2) He fakes out a stew and comes up with a completely different dish, not just the same stew Mimasaka could've easily predicted (taking advantage of the western theme vs stew limitation). Whether you like that or not is up to you. But it's factually not what happened in the story, so don't pretend it is.

That's all.

EDIT:

Why would you even devote this much time "calling me out?" I've been replying because I was defending my view of the episode, but you're practically saying that you've been arguing with me because you didn't like how I argued... which is like the least relevant thing in this thead.