The marvellous thing about touring the country and meeting the great food and wine sellers is the acres of advice which they pass on to you.
"You have to do an In Season about Golden Wonders," said Peter Ward as we chatted in his shop, Country Choice, in Nenagh, Co Tipperary. "They are at their best right now, and there's nothing like them. Come on and we'll go get some."
And so, off we went to the little vegetable shop just up the road, and with a 5 lb bag of Wonders under my arm, I headed off to Mullingar. And there, talking to Paddy and Siobhan Keogh of the wonderful Wines Direct company, was when I first learned of the club roast.
"Have you not eaten the club roast from Tormey's?" said Siobhan Keogh. "It's even better than the rib roast."
And so, next morning, there I was at James Tormey's sparkling butcher's shop in the Harbour Centre (no, I don't know how they can have a Harbour Centre in Mullingar either) asking the man himself about club roast.
"It's the eye of the rib roast, that's all," said James, who quickly prepared a beautiful cut for me, and back home I went with that quintessential midlands meal: meat and spuds.
And when you have those flavours, the rule is to do as little as possible with them. The club roast was sealed in a pan with plenty of butter, and then roasted in a hot oven until cooked rare.
The spuds were peeled (and what thick skins the Golden Wonders have) and steamed.
A gravy was made with the pan juices, good olive oil was drizzled over the crushable spuds when they were ready, and Sunday night's dinner was nothing but perfection.
They know what they are about when it comes to food, those smart folk in the midlands.