Miyoko gives a Chinese twist to the curry requirement at the Autumn Elections Preliminaries. After mixing pork and pineapple in her stir fried rice, she bakes it inside a hollowed pineapple, giving the curried fried rice a moist consistency, sweet flavor and a jewel-like appearance. After tasting the sweet and sour pork inspired dish, one of the judges imagines Miyoko as a fiery kung-fu master who then knocks him out with a punch, and states that her dish puts men to shame. Good for her, as she is intent on proving women can be as good if not better than men in the cooking world. Miyoko got 87 points for this dish which had her in the top 4 until the Aldinis and Megumi presented their dishes. This victory means a lot to Miyoko, it's original and makes you want to try it at home!

Akira Hayama is a part of the Shiomi Seminar which is a club at Totsuki where they specialize in spices. He is Jun Shiomi’s assistant and an expert in spices. He makes this dish for Souma and Megumi when they decide to do some research on spices before the curry themed Autumn Elections preliminaries. Akira uses water instead of broth in his curry and he uses some fresh spices along with dry ones. The fresh curry leaves give ten times more flavor than dried ones, quite literally blowing Souma's clothes off with the impact from the aroma alone, while the flavor sends Megumi into a different realm. Seeing Akira make something he can't make himself, and timing his cooking based on his scent, really lights a fire under Souma regarding his own recipe for the preliminaries; making this moment what motivates him to spend days focusing on refining his curry recipe for the competition. It seems like an important moment in both Akira's and Souma's life at Tostuki.

On the first day of the Training Camp, the participants are required to catch and/or pick their own ingredients from the resort grounds, anything withing the fence is fair game. After Souma takes Inui's kaki seeds to use as their key ingredient, he fishes a char, gets fresh eggs and Megumi gathers wild edible plants. In no time flat, Souma batters the fish and uses the crushed kaki seeds as breading (the okaki in the name refers to the seeds and age means fried), Megumi deep fries the wild veggies and they serve the dish with a fluffy egg yolk-based dipping sauce. After envisioning herself being embraced by a merman with a kaki seed head, Inui acknowledges that in all her years giving this challenge, nobody has ever done something as out-of-the-box as this and of course, she passes team Souma. Souma's ingenious approach is why his Char Okakiage made it on the top 10.

After the urban life planner, Yaeko and her henchmen sabotage Restaurant Yukihira by destroying all the meat and most other ingredients, they rub salt in the wound by challenging Souma to make a meat dish or she’ll shut them down. Souma accepts and serves what looks like a roast pork! The “roast pork” was actually made with potatoes and mushrooms with thick slices of bacon wrapped around it and seasoned with what he could find intact in the kitchen. The aroma and visual appeal tempt Yaeko and when she takes the first bite, her knees go weak and she moans with delight. In order to be allowed to finish the delectable fake Pork Roast, she promises to leave Yukihira Restaurant alone, freeing them of her forever. But not before Yaeko and her henchmen orgasmically finish their plates and lay satisfied on the ground. The originality, reactions and positive repercussions are why the “Gotcha” Roast Pork made the top 10.

Souma's first Shokugeki (Food War) was against the meat queen, Ikumi Mito, to keep the Donburi Research Society (Don RS) club from being demolished and risking being expelled if he were to lose. To compete against Ikumi's A5 Wagyu Beef Don, the poor broke Souma uses discount sirloin from the grocery store, but tenderizes it with onions and tops it with a glaze made from wine and the drippings left in the cooking pan. He also added picked plums to the rice for a refreshing kick. The judges can't stop eating and even ask for seconds when they're done. Ikumi's dish however, is left unfinished. When Ikumi herself tries Souma's Chaliapin Steak Don, she is “shown” by the Don that she can be herself and with a moan of ecstasy she admits defeat. And that's how Souma saved the Don RS. True story!

Megumi Tadokoro also made a big splash at the Autumn Elections' preliminaries. She went with her signature, Japanese countryside style and presented a hot pot dish. However, monkfish preparation is extremely difficult and requires a lot of experience and skill, which Megumi acquired as a young child to help her family. Besides impressing the judges by expertly slashing the giant hanging fish on her own, the first taste transports them to a cozy, homey setting by the masterful preparation of sauteed fish liver, miso and sake with the perfect addition of curry spices and vegetables from Megumi's home town that gave the dish a home-grown, heartwarming effect. This landed her in 4th place with 88 points, allowing her to stay in the running. Megumi proved herself with the preparation of this dish, and that's why her Dobujiru is on our list.

The Sumire Street Shopping District, where the Yukihira restaurant is located, is dying because Mozuya, a successful fast food chain, opened at the train station and serves delicious karaage (fried chicken). Souma and Ikumi partner up to come up with a recipe that will revive the shopping street by keeping people there. They come up with a karaage roll made with high quality chickens from Ikumi’s family, a carefully crafted original sauce made by the meat expert herself and a warm, fluffy freshly made rice wrap to hold it together. It is also portable so students and businessmen on their way home can enjoy it while they walk. Having added a little “Sumire mark” on the flour wrap, people start asking for the “Sumire Mark” wraps by name! Thanks to this amazing invention, Sumire was bustling again bringing business back to all the shops alike. When the Mozuya manager tries it herself, she feels the unity of the shopping street in its flavor and accepts defeat. More than enough reason to add it to the list!

During their 490th cooking duel, Souma and his father, Jouichirou challenge each other to make a breakfast that will revitalize a Megumi who hasn't slept, Isshiki who just finished his gardening work and Fumio who says she's too old to eat anything heavy in the morning. Jouichiro's response is to make a vegetarian ramen using tempeh as the main ingredient, yuzu infused noodles, soy milk, miso, vegetable broth, ginger, garlic and other garnishes and seasonings. The result is a rich, flavorful ramen that looks like it will be too heavy first thing in the morning, but in fact it’ss light and makes the three judges feel like they can't stop eating this rich, warming dish. Needless to say, Souma lost to his dad once again. The unique fusion approach to making a vegetarian ramen that satisfies both young and old, tired or not, is why Jouichiro's unique dish made it at number 3.

After failing chef Kojirou Shinomiya's challenge during the Training Camp at Totsuki Resort, Megumi is expelled but with Souma as her sous-chef they have a rematch risking both of their survivals at Tostuki. Megumi recreates the very Kojirou's Terrine but with her own twist. Her Rainbow Terrine is a colorful display of 7 different vegetable pâtés, with a bit of all-spice to aid the judges' digestion. It's accompanied by 2 different sauces, a sweet one and an herb sauce, giving the dish 14 different flavors! While Kojirou's terrine showcased fresh vegetables, Megumi's focused on ones that have been traditionally preserved giving the judges a sense of home-cooked warmth that even had them fighting over whether she was a vegetable god or guru. And when chef Kojirou tastes it, though he finds weaknesses in it, he realizes that Megumi's dish has the warmth of a mother's love and that is what his own cooking has been missing and why he feels stagnated as a chef. He acknowledges Megumi's dish and even sheds a tear before rescinding her expulsion. Softening chef Kojirou's heart and teaching him a lesson was quite a feat and she did it pretty much by herself since Souma wasn't allowed to change her recipe. That's why Megumi's Terrine comes in second.

Shimotsu-to means “four substance decoction” and as a Chinese medicine specialist, Hisako Arato used four Chinese and Japanese medicinal herbs that tonify and invigorate as well as curry spices. Hisako presented her dish after the dark, obsessive Nao Sadatsuka, who served a black curry with a horrible aroma but a flavor that mesmerized the judges. Hisako's medicinal mutton curry reinvigorates the judges and “erradicates all the evil from their bodies and souls” after the black curry, which they say in comparison the Shimotsu-to Curry was crude and offensive. The judges award Hisako 92 points, putting her in 1st place. When Nao tastes the Shimotsu-to Curry, she falls to her knees, her darkness is cleansed, she becomes bright and purified and her two-year grudge against Hisako turns into a deep admiration instead. For combining flavor, texture aroma and Chinese medicine in a way “no first year student should be able to”, being able to purify and revitalize Nao and the judge with the weakest constitution and well as being given the highest score in her block, Hisako comes in at 1st place in our list as well!