Irish poet spurning hot dog ultimately preferred tofu (4,4)
I believe the answer is:
bean curd
'tofu' is the definition.
(synonyms)
'irish poet spurning hot dog ultimately preferred' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'dog' could be 'cur' (both can mean a despicable person) and 'cur' is found in the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for bean curd that I've seen before include "food suitable for vegetarian" , "Tofu" .)