Carbonnade à la Flammande - Beef and Beer Stew

Last weekend someone broke into our apartment and stole my laptop - the one with all my recipes on it... So now I'm starting from scratch and saving the ones I like to this blog. One such recipe is Carbonnade à la Flammande. I'd found a version of it on a few different sites and tried them all. They were all good, but then I tried Laura Calder's version (I'm afraid that my blog will become a fan site for Laura!) and it was great. I made it again last night for Keven, my brother-in-law visiting from North Hollywood, and it was ok, but didn't compare to the first one I'd made; instead of caramelizing the onions, I cooked them until soft and brown from the beef residue, making them sweeter. Here is Carbonnade à la Flammande or, as Laura has called it, Beef in Beer.

2 Tbsps (1oz/28gr) butter, more as needed

1 Tbsp. vegetable oil

3 lbs sirloin tip, cut into cubes

3 onions, sliced

4 cloves garlic, chopped

2 Tbsps. flour

1 Tbsp. brown sugar

1 and 1/2 cup beef stock

2 cups beer

1 Tbsp. red wine vinegar

Salt and pepper

Bouquet Garni (I usually use parsley, thyme and a couple of bay leaves)

1. Pre-heat the oven to 325F.
2. Melt the butter and oil together in a sauté pan and, working in batches, brown the beef strips on all sides. Remove. In the same pan, fry the onions until soft and brown, about 10-15 minutes, then add the garlic one minute. Set aside. (Check if there is fat in the pan. If not, add a good tablespoon of butter and let it melt.)
3. Add the flour and sugar to the pan and cook 1 minute to make a roux. Gradually whisk in the stock and bring to a boil. Add the beer and the vinegar to the boiling stock, and bring back to the boil, cooking until thickened, about 10 minutes. Turn off the heat and set aside.
4. In a large casserole, layer the onion mixture alternately with the beef, seasoning each layer as you go with salt and pepper (don't skimp on the salt as the beer is quite sweet). Tuck in the bouquet garni and pour the liquid over. Cover and bake for 2-1/2 hours. If you can wait a day before eating; cool the dish completely when it’s out of the oven, and refrigerate overnight. The flavour will be even better when you reheat it.

EXPERIMENTATION: I haven't really paid attention to the kind of beer used, and would like to pin down if an ale is better than a stout or vice-versa.