Lobster Dome Garnished with Small Cases

Pound the cooked meat of two or three lobster tails with a spoonful of prepared red pepper (No. 168), two spoonfuls of bechamel (No. 409), and a piece of lobster butter (No. 580); pass the whole through a sieve and then set it in a vessel to mix with an equal quantity of white chaudfroid sauce (No. 596) and two gills of mayonnaise (No. 606). Mix in with this preparation the claw meat cut in small dice. Incrust a dome-shaped mold wider than its height on ice; decorate the top and sides with fanciful cuts of gherkins, black truffles, lobster coral, tarragon leaves and red shrimp tails split in two, being careful to dip each separate decoration in half-set jelly. Harden a layer of jelly on the bottom of the mold, and when cold set another dome-shaped mold inside of it, having it filled/with pounded ice, but half an inch narrower than the first one; pour some half-set jelly between the intersections of the two molds to fill up the empty space entirely, and as soon as this is hard remove the smaller mold, after replacing the ice by warm water. Thicken the lobster preparation on ice while stirring, and pour into it two spoonfuls of good tarragon vinegar and some blanched cut-up tarragon leaves; pour all this into the empty coated mold and let rest for one hour. Unmold the dome on to a socle of carved rice two inches high (see Fig. 9a), having it round, and surround its base with the small cases, as described herewith: Put a dozen small china cases on ice to have thoroughly cold. Split across in two the meats of four or five lobster claws; cut these same meats into small rounds with a tin tube, having them half an inch in diameter and an eighth of an inch thick; lay them in a small vessel with half the quantity of rounds of truffles and two or three spoonfuls of rounds of gherkin, all being of the same size as the lobster; season with salt, a dash of cayenne, oil and vinegar, leaving them to macerate from twelve to fifteen minutes. Drain off the seasoning and thicken it with blond chaudfroid sauce, made by mixing white and brown chaudfroid, mingled with two spoonfuls of mayonnaise (No. 606) and a pinch of chopped tarragon leaves. Fill the cases with this preparation, covering the tops with a layer of mayonnaise finished with tarragon vinegar.