It’s five to nine, so carve the meat (7)
I believe the answer is:
venison
'the meat' is the definition.
(venison is a kind of meat)
'it's five to nine so carve' is the wordplay.
'it's five' becomes 'v' (roman numeral).
'carve' indicates anagramming the letters (I've seen 'carving' mean this).
'nine'+'so'='nineso'
'nineso' anagrammed gives 'enison'.
'v'+'enison'='VENISON'
(Other definitions for venison that I've seen before include "Flesh of deer" , "Game" , "Meat - in ovens (anag)" , "Deer meat" , "Type of meat" .)