Crossword Genius

Crooner has lot cooked as dried food (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

biltong

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'dried food' is the definition.
'biltong' can be an answer for 'food' (biltong is a kind of food). I'm not certain of the 'dried' bit.

'crooner has lot cooked' is the wordplay.
'crooner' becomes 'Bing' (Bing Crosby).
'has' indicates putting letters inside.
'cooked' is an anagram indicator (letters cooked into a new form).
'lot' with letters rearranged gives 'lto'.
'bing' placed around 'lto' is 'BILTONG'.

'as' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for biltong that I've seen before include "Sun-dried meat from South Africa" , "meat strips" , "South African sun-dried meat" , "Salted and dried meat" , "South African dried meat" .)

I've seen this clue in The Daily Express.
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