Cook meats maybe (5)
I believe the answer is:
steam
'cook' is the definition.
(I know that steam is a more specific form of the action cook)
'meats maybe' is the wordplay.
'maybe' indicates an anagram.
'meats' is an anagram of 'STEAM'.
(Other definitions for steam that I've seen before include "12 dn water vapour" , "letter opener?" , "Energy (colloq.)" , "Old-fashioned power" , "Driving force" .)