It is a very slow cooking recipe and I truly doubt cooking the onions for 40 minutes first is necessary but whatever, I follow the recipe. It uses cognac and white wine but I have no cognac. No big deal. I also used regular better than broth veggies broth instead of shrooms as I dont have any shrooms broth. I may mix some gruyere directly in the soup and toast with melted grilled cheese on top as I have no soup bowl oven safe.