There are 9,619 miles separating Pago Pago and Dublin.

So it makes sense Samoa and Ireland have little in common, other than being surrounded by water.

But there is at least one other thing.

Although it is prepared very differently in each place, corned beef holds an important spot in traditional meals — or at least what is popularly perceived as traditional, in the case of Ireland.

Samoa and Ireland are not alone in their link to the salty, preserved beef brisket; Great Britain, Israel, Argentina, New Zealand and Tonga are among countries with a connection to its consumption, and in some cases, production. Plus, anyone with an army or navy to feed.

But, with St. Patrick’s Day on the horizon, we’ll focus on Ireland … and Samoa, since there’s at least one Irish-Samoan guy from Ewa Beach who grew up eating corned beef in both styles of his ethnicities.

And there’s another guy who lives in East Honolulu, is of Irish descent and is from Long Island, N.Y.

They both happen to be named Robert Curran. The one from New York is the well-known longtime sportscaster, known to most as Bobby. So to keep things simple, we’ll refer to him as Bobby and the fellow from Ewa as Robert. And, no, they are not related.

“My mother’s Samoan, so we had a lot of big family get-togethers,” Robert said. “And there’d always be corned beef. The kind we had was from out of a can. My dad was Irish, from Cincinnati. So my grandmother on that side would cook the traditional Irish corned beef dinner, and we’d eat it the brisket way.”

Canned corned beef is also brisket, but the meat is cut into small chunks, while the boiled brisket that Irish-Americans (and many other Americans) eat to celebrate St. Patrick’s is sliced.

Then there’s corned beef hash. Not that stuff out of the can with tiny shreds of meat, little bits of potato and who-knows-what-else. I always thought that was corned beef hash. As a kid, I never had the real thing because there were seven people in our family and there were never any leftovers to make hash with the next day.

IT WASN’T until around 1995 that my Irish eyes were smiling, eating the real deal. It was at Murphy’s Bar & Grill, and I never knew chunks of brisket, potatoes, onions and peppers could taste so good.

“It is a great leftovers dish,” said Don Murphy, owner of the iconic downtown establishment. “Great in the morning, just throw a couple eggs on top.”

Asked if he considers the hash to be a comfort food from his youth, Murph said, “Oh, yeah, for sure.” Then he laughed when asked about the actual St. Patrick’s Day meal.

“We always had the corned beef, and my mom would make something green, like the mashed potatoes. It was horrible, but it was her thing.”

In my family, we always had cabbage, which was green, and boiled — as was everything else. Boiled corned beef, boiled potato, boiled carrots. We all liked it and ate it all. If I knew then what I know now, I’d have tried to make a deal with my mom that she hide some of it so we could have hash the next day.

PALUSAMI WAS love at first bite for me, the same as Murph’s hash. It was at a friend’s family celebration. The combination of taro leaves, coconut milk and corned beef (from a can, but so what?) was like nothing else I’d ever tasted. While I’m not a huge fan of the individual ingredients separately, together they’re magic.

“A lot of Samoans won’t eat corned beef (cooked in) palusami because that is the Tongan style,” said Robert, who gets his palusami from Tammy’s in Waipahu, adding corned beef on the side. I got mine at Talofa Polynesian Market on North King Street. Both are good.

Someday I will make Samoan corned beef gravy; there’s a recipe on YouTube, and it looks ono.

Many other Samoan corned beef dishes are eaten any time, not just at special events. They fall under the umbrella of pisopo — food that comes from a can — a derivation of “pea soup,” one of the first canned foods introduced to Samoa by British voyagers.

And that is one of the reasons for corned beef’s huge popularity in many parts of the world, especially isolated islands. It lasts a long time, so it can be shipped.

“I’ll eat corned beef straight out of the can, just warm it up in the microwave, throw it on some rice, with some Tabasco,” Robert said. “Sometimes with palusami, sometimes onions, some people add mayonnaise.”

Although at certain times in history, Ireland produced a lot of corned beef, its residents didn’t really eat that much of it, or any beef at all. The idea of it being the focal point of St. Patrick’s Day celebration dinners started with immigrants in New York and Boston, where the Irish in my family tree are from.

“Corned beef is not as big over there (in Ireland) as it is here (in America),” said Murphy.

In America, he said, “it was affordable and a lot of those guys didn’t have jobs. When Irish came over here and if they were looking for beef, they’d go to the Jewish delis and find it.”

It was the same with choice of bread, Bobby said. “Upper-crust Irish people won’t eat rye bread. It was really the bread for the poor people,” said Bobby. “It was the cheapest bread to make. Of course it’s one of my favorites.”

BUT WHAT about that corn? I always wondered where the corn was in my corn beef. (Have you ever heard a local person in Hawaii call it corned beef? It’s always “corn” beef here, kind of like “shave” ice, right? )

Well, of course there’s no corn in it. The name “corned” is from the size of the crystals of salt used to cure the meat.

And that’s part of how corned beef got all the way around the world.

Corned beef hash is like a turkey sandwich; in most cases nothing to get excited about. But when made with leftover meat the day after St. Patrick’s Day or Thanksgiving? Spectacular! And Murph’s hash is the real deal.

The key is to cook the corned beef yourself and reserve some of the cooking liquid for finishing the hash.

DON MURPHY’S CORNED BEEF HASH

• 1 pound boiled corned beef brisket, cut into 1 inch cubes
• 1-1/2 pounds red potatoes, parboiled or roasted, cut into 1-inch cubes
• 3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
• 1 green pepper, roughly chopped
• 1 white onion, roughly chopped
• 1 red bell pepper, or other color, roughly chopped
• 1/4 cup corned beef cooking liquid
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• Thyme leaves and parsley, for garnish

If corned beef is cold, reheat 5 minutes in large skillet on medium; set aside.

In same skillet, brown potatoes in 2 tablespoons olive oil, then add peppers and onions.

Return beef to skillet, add cooking liquid and remaining olive oil; saute until mixture is hot, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper; garnish with thyme and parsley. Serves 4.

>> Option: Top with sunny-side up eggs, 2 per serving.

Approximate nutritional information, per serving (not including salt to taste): 580 calories, 33 g fat, 9 g saturated fat, 110 mg cholesterol, greater than 1,500 mg sodium, 45 g carbohydrate, 6 g fiber, 6 g sugar, 26 g protein.