If you are very new to flying a MINIMAL amount of rote recall is useful, if it helps you keep your eyes outside the cockpit and allows you to get the feel of the aircraft. The 'recipe' approach is certainly over-doing it but remembering, for example, the appropriate downwind checklist is a good idea and keeps your eyes in the right place.
The other thing that many instructors stress, and which newcomers find hard to master, is the apparently simple "glance". For example, at about 300' I raise the flaps in my bug smasher and simultaneously glance at three critical and conveniently positioned P&T gauges on the panel. Similarly, on final, and while practising gaining the intuition mentioned by others, just glance at the ASI. The trick is 'sensor integration' from a wide range of sources, only some of which are on the aircraft panel.
As you fly more, the glancing habit expands and becomes second nature. For example, if you get an instrument rating, you typically find yourself intuitively doing a bit of glancing at e.g. the DG in circuit turns, just to confirm your visual picture. Use whatever information you have, be flexible and don't fixate.