As I say in my bio on my website, I've wanted to be a writer for as long as I could put a few words together on a page. Right from the first grade, I started pumping out little stories, usually romantic ones, or as romantic as my 6 year-old-mind could conjure. One piece of advice I repeatedly heard was, "write what you know." For some reason, this little gem of wisdom seemed to be considered the most important lesson an aspiring writer needed to learn. And after years and years of being a professional writer -- an assistant editor, a biographer and now a romance novelist -- I can tell you honestly that "writing what you know" is crap.
Here's my take on it: WRITE WHAT YOU'RE PASSIONATE ABOUT, WHAT YOU LOVE, WHAT INSPIRES YOU.
Never mind that you've never actually been to the Tower of London (or whatever), never jumped out of a plane, never climbed Mount Everest. You don't have to ever have fired a gun to write a story about spies or cops, don't have to have crossed the Atlantic in a storm to write a high seas adventure, don't have to have lived in a drafty, plumbing-challenged castle to write a romance set in the Middle Ages. When you have a passionate interest in something, the research involved in filling in the finer details becomes a labor of love. Now, I am one for engaging in as much "physical" research as possible, like traveling, collecting and wearing period costumes, trying out recipes and period hobbies, but I've been just as inspired from the information I've found in books and on the Internet (which can be a great source of pictures). So if an idea captures your imagination, don't be afraid to pursue it just because it isn't something "you know." You're enthusiasm will make it something you know, and that creative energy will make your story shine!
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Do you mean you are trying out historical recipes? If so, how about sharing the good ones with your readers? 
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