Dog smelt better after scrubbing sides — it takes some beating (8)
I believe the answer is:
omelette
'dog smelt' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both things that one consumes for nourishment as well as being singular nouns.
Perhaps there's an association between them I don't understand?
'better after scrubbing sides it takes some beating' is the wordplay.
'better after scrubbing sides' becomes 'omelet' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'it' becomes 'e' ('e' can mean 'electronic' which is similar to 'IT').
'some' says to take the initial letters.
'beating' indicates an anagram.
The initial letter of 'takes' is 't'.
'e'+'t'='et'
'et' is an anagram of 'te'.
'omelet'+'te'='OMELETTE'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for omelette that I've seen before include "A capsicum pod" , "Beaten-egg dish" , "Egg-based dish" , "Simple egg dish" , "Dish of fried beaten eggs" .)