Now, I'm a single guy who doesn't have a clue about this, so take anything I say with the proverbial large grain of sodium chloride.

That disclaimer being disclaimed, my first reaction was "timer!".

My second reaction was "could you use a double boiler for this?" Being the aforementioned clueless single guy, I don't know if the top of a double boiler would get hot enough.

My third reaction is to suggest that if you tend to boil little pans of water dry, use big pans of water. With lots of water. And maybe an extra timer...