The Little Blue Smokehouse won the Southern heat of the British Street Food Awards in June and will go on to compete in this year’s final in September in Leeds.
The couple started a smokehouse in the pub three years ago in order to make their own bacon and smoked salmon and now have a food stall every Friday at Street Diner in Brighton – the town’s first street food market.
They serve dishes including pulled pork, smoked brisket, pork shanks, ox cheeks and chocolate covered bacon.
The stall also serves up a range of burgers, including the pulled pork burger with coleslaw and chilli sauce and pastrami in a brioche bun with tomato chipotle sauce, cauliflower, fennel and chilli coleslaw and pickled chilli.
The Cottons also take the Little Blue Smokehouse to festivals and it is available for outside catering.
Now in its 5th year, the British Street Food Awards showcases the very best street food from across Europe with traders from Stockholm, Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam and Berlin competing in last year’s competition.
Competing alongside the Little Blue Smokehouse will be the Cauldron from the West and Wales heat, Buddha Belly from the Birmingham heat as well as finalists from heats in London, the East and the North which are set to take place by the end of July.
Traders will be competing in categories including Best Main Dish, Best Sandwich, Best Burger, Best Overseas Trader, the People’s Choice and Best of the Best.
The final will take place on 26 to 28 September in Leeds and will feature live street art, entertainment and street food seminars.