Jam to dish up beforehand? (8)
I believe the answer is:
preserve
'jam' is the definition.
(jam is a type of preserve)
'dish up beforehand?' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'dish' could be 'serve' (synonyms) and 'serve' is located in the answer.
The remaining letters 'pre' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
'to' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for preserve that I've seen before include "Keep (something) safe" , "Eg, jam" , "Look after" , "Keep from decay, corpse or food" , "Keep safe from spoilage" .)