Hand crush the tomatoes, removing the tough piece of core in each tomato (the stem end). You could just put them through a food mill but using your hands is fun.

Heat the olive oil over medium low heat in a 5-6 quart dutch oven or pot of similar size.

Add the fat back or pancetta and cook until the fat is rendered. If you use fat back, remove the rinds.

Add the onions, regulating the heat so they turn translucent but do not brown. Cook for about 3 minutes. Add the minced garlic and cook another 30 seconds.

Pour in the crushed tomatoes, add the salt and simmer, loosely covered, for about an hour.

While the marinara simmers prepare the meatballs.

Break up the pork, veal and beef in a large bowl to start mixing them together (it doesn't have to be perfect - just get it started). Add all the remaining ingredients except the water. Mix using your hands to roughly combine.

Add the first cup of water and mix. Continue to add the water until you get the mixture to be fairly moist. You are going for a meatball that holds together but isn't at all dry. Most of the time it takes the full two cups or very close to it.

Form the meat mixture into 8 large meatballs about 2 ½ - 3 inches in diameter.

Place the meatballs in the fridge for around 30 minutes to set up.

Shallow fry the meatballs in a non stick skillet until golden brown. You will be cursing me if you don't use non-stick. I find a 10 inch diameter pot with 1 ½ cups of oil gets you to the point where half the meatball is submerged when cooking 4 at a time. Cook until golden then nudge them over with a slotted spoon to cook the other side.

Drain on paper towel and then add them to the marinara. 8 meatballs will just fit in a single layer in a 5-6 quart dutch oven.

Simmer about one hour, loosely covered. Your marinara will have simmered two hours in total.

To serve, cook spaghetti per the instructions on the package. Drain and toss with a bit of the marinara. Serve with grated pecorino romano as a first course.

Serve the meatballs with the marinara sauce, sprinkled with more pecorino romana as a second course.