Socialist encountered holding a steak, say (3,4)
I believe the answer is:
red meat
'steak say' is the definition.
The definition suggests a singular noun which matches the answer.
'socialist encountered holding a' is the wordplay.
'socialist' becomes 'red' (red can informally mean a socialist).
'encountered' becomes 'met' ('meet' can be a synonym of 'encounter').
'holding' is an insertion indicator.
'met' going around 'a' is 'meat'.
'red'+'meat'='RED MEAT'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for red meat that I've seen before include "Beef, lamb or mutton before cooking" , "Maybe beef" , "beef, perhaps" , "Lamb perhaps" , "what carnivores eat?" .)