These flecks of aspic are scarcely heinous, but cumulatively they suggest an overindulgent hospitality toward the material.

NEWYORKER: Sons and Lovers

But this presumes that public opinion has been frozen in aspic since 1973.

ECONOMIST: Lexington

Not to be confused with zombie websites, which have passed their useful life but are maintained as if in aspic.

BBC: A - Z: Hack attack

But enough may realise that Mr Obama is manoeuvring to stick their party in aspic and stop them changing in the wake of their defeat in November.

BBC: Fiscal cliff: Barack Obama's trap for Republicans

Child's breezy, confident air, which she maintained even in the midst of complex recipes like fish mousse and chicken livers in aspic, was much better suited to the prevailing mood.

ECONOMIST: What cookbooks really teach us

Around our house, when not infected by the Birdseye plague, real food often meant chicken-fried steak with mashed potatoes and cream gravy, sugar peas, field peas, black-eyed peas, lima beans, green beans, all greens, ambrosia, okra, corn, tomato aspic, squash casseroles, pot roast, fried fish, chicken and dumplings, hot rolls, biscuits, cornbread, cakes, pies, fudge, divinity and Mama's homemade vegetable soup, which was world famous in our family.

NPR: Linda Ellerbee, Taking 'Big Bites'