This Weekend in Chicago: Cheese at Pastoral Festival and Pig at Cochon 555

The mission: prepare a menu from the a 200-pound heritage breed  pig, nose-to-tail. If you’re the kind of person who gets excited by pig butchery and cooking, and you’d care to participate in selecting a winner from five local chefs, check out tickets to this year’s Cochon 555 on April 28. Don’t want to buy any tickets? Then come to the  free cheese festival hosted by Pastoral at the Chicago French Market. 

Friday April 26:

Chef Andrew Zimmerman will open his kitchen at Sepia to six renowned Chicago chefs to prepare a special, one-night-only epicurean feast.

Saturday April 27:

Free and open to the public: Pastoral Annual Artisan Producer Festival. The only thing better than cheese is the amazing people who make it. For the third annual Festival, more than 20 artisan cheese producers from all over the nation will be at the Chicago French Market to demo their goods. The Festival also includes cheese’s favorite accompaniments: cured meats, confections, craft beers, small-batch, local liquors and wines from around the world. Want to make charcuterie at home? Come out on Saturday from 11 am to 3 pm. Check here for the full list of producers in attendance on Saturday. Did we say that it was FREE? Seriously, don’t miss this one.

Sunday April 28:

Five chefs, five pigs, five winemakers compete. Audience and judges test and decide. The winning chef will compete against other regional winners at the final Grand Cochon event at the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen in June.