Melt a small piece of the butter in a frying pan. When it starts to foam, add the onion and sauté over a gentle heat until it is very soft and translucent. This will take a while.

Add the thyme leaves, allspice and mace and ground ginger. Increase the heat and add the
chicken livers. Season with salt and white pepper. Fry for a minute to brown the chicken livers, then pour over the madeira. Add the chopped bone marrow, if using, at this point. Simmer until the bone marrow has melted and the madeira has reduced to just 2–3 tbsp.

Allow to cool a bit, then tip into a food processor and blitz. Add the remaining butter and the cream and blitz again. You want this as smooth as possible with absolutely no tendons to spoil it, so at this point it is a good idea to push it through a sieve. Put into earthenware pots and smooth over evenly.

To make the jelly, heat the apple juice in a saucepan with the thyme or lemon thyme and reduce by half. Add the ginger wine and simmer for another couple of minutes. Soak the gelatine leaves in cold water until soft, then wring out and add to the contents of the saucepan. Stir over a gentle heat until the gelatine has dissolved, then strain. Pour this over the pâté. Put in the fridge to set.