Serve roast, with first course of venison, in custody (5)
I believe the answer is:
carve
'serve roast with first course of' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this defines the answer.
'venison in custody' is the wordplay.
'venison' becomes 'v' (this could be a standard abbreviation of which I'm unaware).
'in' indicates putting letters inside.
'custody' becomes 'care' (I've seen this before).
'v' put inside 'care' is 'CARVE'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for carve that I've seen before include "produced by desire, with a shifting to the left" , "Cut meat into slices for eating" , "Chisel, sculpt" , "Slice (meat)" , "Slice up; sculpt" .)