I am using the apple smoked pork loin recipe and wanted to know if I need to put water in the water pan in my smoker or should I use anything else in there besides the wood chips?
If you're using a vertical smoker, whether it's charcoal, electric or gas, go ahead and add water to the water pan. If you don't, dripping juices will flare up when they land on the heat source. And that could give your smoked pork loin more of a grilled flavor than a smoky taste.
Use the water pan to help regulate the smoker temperature. In cold weather, start out with boiling hot water. Hot weather calls for cool to lukewarm water, depending on how efficient your smoker is.
Use the wood chips according to the smoker manufacturer's directions. Vertical gas smokers typically have a small tray for wood chips, positioned above the flame. When using a vertical electric smoker, wrap the wood in foil and place it next to, but not touching, the electric element.
With charcoal smokers you can wrap the wood in foil and place it on top of the coals, or bury unwrapped chunks of smoke wood under the coals. When buried, the wood chunks burn slowly, providing nice clean smoke.
