I have to admit that I am cheating a little bit this week because I’m not Irish. While my husband’s family is quite Irish, I only have a bit of Scottish on my side. To be fair, my heritage is Scots-Irish, a group of Scots who moved from Scotland to Ireland, so there is a teensy bit of validity here. I am also cheating because I am writing about a smoked fish chowder that is traditionally Scottish rather than Irish in a week where we are celebrating Irish, not Scottish, heritage. But there is an Irish chowder version that is very similar — and a New England one that isn’t far off either.

It has long been a fascination of mine to find similarities like these in cuisine across cultures — often those that are more varied than Scottish, Irish and American. Many of these stem from similar preservation techniques that evolved in places and time periods where refrigeration was not possible. Smoking fish is one of those techniques, and it is used worldwide to preserve many types of protein, including seafood. The methods of smoking can vary quite a bit from those that use modern equipment like steel trays and smoking ovens to those that use a simple open-wood fire. Some methods also include hanging the fish in the sun to dry prior to smoking in order to remove some of the moisture. All of these techniques allow people to harvest what is available when it is available and to preserve it for when it is not. They have also allowed people to send seafood throughout the world much more cheaply than requiring freezing or refrigeration.

The smoked fish chowder that I’ll be trying out this weekend is known as Cullen Skink. It comes from the town of Cullen in the northeast part of Scotland. “Skink” is a more general term for a soup or chowder. Smoked haddock is the most commonly used species — something we have in abundance in Maine as well. But it can be made just as easily using a variety of smoked white fish, most of which overlap on both sides of the Atlantic. Irish Seafood Chowder similarly uses smoked fish but also includes fresh finfish and shellfish depending on what is available.

These seafood chowders from the other side of the Atlantic are quite similar to what we make in New England. Both Cullen Skink and Irish Seafood Chowders evolved as simple recipes used primarily by fishing families to make a hearty meal using inexpensive and abundant ingredients. They include a combination of vegetables like carrots, onions, potatoes and celery, which are mixed together with a combination of dairy like milk, cream and butter; some version of seafood stock; and some combination of smoked fish and fresh seafood. Many of these ingredients are also found in abundance in Maine. And many of the people in Maine are of Irish ancestry — ancestors who brought their food traditions with them when they settled in New England. Aside from finfish, clams were another ample seafood resource. Thus evolved the New England seafood chowders that often centered around clams and potatoes. One traditional ingredient that was lost, however, was smoked seafood.

For my St. Patrick’s Day dinner in Maine, I will be reintroducing the smoked fish tradition. I’m going to keep it pretty simple with the exception that I’ll be swapping in smoked pollock for haddock in order to feature an often underappreciated Maine finfish species. Perhaps in the future, I’ll try truly combining cultures and adding in some clams to my evolving recipe. For now, be it Scottish, Irish or New England chowder, make up your own recipe this St. Patrick’s Day — the options are endless when you live on the edge of the Atlantic.

Susan Olcott is the director of strategic partnerships at Maine Coast Fishermen’s Association.