Carbonara is much tastier if you swap out 1 item for luxurious ingredient

A classic carbonara can be made to taste that much better if you swap out one ingredient for a luxury item that is easily sourced. The Italian classic is made up of pancetta, parmesan cheese, an egg yolk and pasta. But swapping out one of these ingredients can make all the difference to those wanting to experiment with the fundamentals of the pasta classic.

Those wishing to do so can opt for duck instead of pancetta, bringing with it a whole new set of flavours. Those wondering how to prepare the luxury meat and what to add into the carbonara are in luck as a recipe has broken down how the flavour is changed by the duck.

Those wondering how to prepare duck for the carbonara were told by the cookwithipohbunny team: "Duck has a thick layer of fat under the skin. When cooked slowly, this fat renders out and becomes a flavour-packed base that coats the pasta beautifully.

"Pan-sear it over low heat to render out the fat, then cut into cubes or strips. Use the rendered fat to flavour your pasta sauce.

"Use 2 whole eggs + 1 yolk for every 40g of cheese. This creates a silky, restaurant-style sauce. Turn off the heat completely before adding the egg-cheese mixture. Mix quickly with the hot pasta and smoked duck."

A recipe to follow for the duck-featuring carbonara can be found below:

• Dice smoked duck bacon into roughly 3/4 cm cubes.

• In a pot of salted water, cook pasta as per instructions on packet.

• While pasta is cooking, heat pan. Add a little oil to the pan.

• Add in duck cubes and saute. Cover and turn down heat to allow the heat to render out slowly, without burning the duck bacon. You want the meat to still remain juicy while outside is lightly crisp.

• Grate cheese into eggs and whisk until well-mixed.

• By now, pasta should be cooked.

• Turn off the stove (where duck bacon is being cooked) to prepare for the next step.

• 1) Pro chef: Add pasta straight to pan, followed by egg-cheese mixture. Quickly mix everything to create a sauce without scrambling the egg.2) Safer method: Transfer hot duck bacon cubes and fat to a mixing bowl. Add pasta straight in, followed by egg-cheese sauce. Mix everything until every strand is coated with the egg-cheese-duck-fat sauce.