Skull Cleaning by Simmering Method
Another method commonly used is to simmer (not boil) the skulls. Skin the skull and cut off the biggest chunks of meat as described above. You can then either soak the skull for a week or so in a bucket of water to soften up the tissue (which is preferred), or go ahead and simmer it in a pot with water and sal soda (sodium carbonate), or baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) works well too.
Never boil a skull as this can do some serious damage to the bones. Just simmer the skull in the brew until the meat comes off easily, almost like cooking a soup bone. The time for this varies according to how dry the meat is on the skull. That's where presoaking the skull in water cuts down on the simmering time.
Once the skull is simmered long enough to where the meat can be peeled off easily, take it out and clean it under running water. Then follow the above steps for drying, bleaching, and finishing.
