Lady before time produced fat (4)
I believe the answer is:
suet
'fat' is the definition.
(suet is a kind of fat)
'lady before time' is the wordplay.
'lady' becomes 'sue' (**).
'before' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'time' becomes 't'.
'sue'+'t'='SUET'
'produced' is the link.
(Other definitions for suet that I've seen before include "Solid fat used in cooking" , "Edible animal fat" , "Hard animal fat used in cooking" , "Thin pancake" , "Hard fat from beef and sheep" .)