I have always thought of smoked meat and the burnt, outer, crusty edges as Nirvana.

Food writer Lynn Schwartzberg found her calling as an official judge for the Kansas City Barbecue Society. She kicks off our program dedicated to barbecue with a discussion of the many styles and regions of cooked meat.

After that, champion barbecue Chris Marks comes to Bloomington's Short Stop Food Mart to cook up everything from alligator to lamb chops, but it's the ribs that got our attention. He explains why for him falling-off-the-bone is actually no good.

Before that, restaurateur and farmer Jeff Mease introduces us to his bagel-loving pigs.

And Harvest Public Media takes a closer look at the farmer's safety net: crop insurance.

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