5 Links to Read Before Making Pasta Salad

Each week, we’ll be sharing a comprehensive list of links to help you master something new in the kitchen. Culinary greatness, here you come.

Today: Perfect pasta salads for picnics and potlucks.

The return of warm weather and sunshine means a significant increase in outdoor meals and human contact. That first picnic in the park or potluck on your friend's deck is equal parts exciting and terrifying. After months of eating soup in your pajamas while streaming Twin Peaks on Netflix, you're now tasked with whipping up a delicious dish to satisfy a group of hungry pals. Enter pasta salad. When done right (read: without mayo), it's light yet filling and strikes the perfect balance of flavors and textures. These links will show you how to do just that.

• The pasta salad manifesto. (Slate.)

• Make pasta salad on the fly -- no recipe required. (Food52.)

• Avoid these common pasta salad mistakes and you'll be all set. (Bon Appétit.)

• How to help your pasta salad "dress for success." (NPR.)

• 7 tips and tricks to elevate pasta salad. (The Kitchn.)

Pasta pros -- share your secrets in the comments!