Cooked in water, but not initially basted (5)
I believe the answer is:
oiled
'basted' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both related to change as well as being past participle verbs.
Maybe there's a link between them I don't understand?
'cooked in water but not initially' is the wordplay.
'cooked in water' becomes 'boiled' (I've seen this before).
'but not initially' means to remove the first letter.
'boiled' with its first letter removed is 'OILED'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for oiled that I've seen before include "as silk may be" , "Lubricated (with drink?)" , "greasy" , "wasted" , "Anointed" .)