Jasper White's Manhattan Clam Chowder

Absolutely super chowder. I have two qualifications: first, the clams should really be placed in a big pot of cold water with cornmeal scattered over the surface of the water and soaked for a few minutes before being scrubbed. Much more of the grit will be removed this way. Second, all of us who ate it agreed that the full amount of hot pepper flakes was a bit much and I would use no more than 1/4 teaspoon (rather than the 1/2 teaspoon called for) of the pepper flakes.