How can I say “there was already a lot of salt in the meat”?

Question

In a restaurant I asked for dry fried green beans (干煸豆角) with no salt. The woman was very kind and asked if hot peppers are okay (yes) and when she told the cook I heard her say don’t add salt. When they came though they had very much salt. Delicious but I should not eat that. She said they had not added salt, which was true in a way. But of course the cook had made up the peppers-and-meat seasoning at the start of the day. It had a lot of salt in it.

I fear I did not explain the problem very well to her, because that past-perfect construction was beyond me. How can I say “there was already a lot of salt in the meat”?

The people were so kind I want to go back. But I have to be able to explain this to them.

Henry HO and user6065 give good ideas of what I should have said yesterday in the first place. And I will use those suggestions in the future at other restaurants.

But when it happened, the woman was very concerned to say "He did not add any salt." And I tried to agree "Yes, I know he did not add any. The meat was already salty." She really wanted to help me and I wanted to explain that I appreciated that even though the result was too salty for me to eat.

I can easily say I know he did not add any. The second part is harder for me.

Answer 1

我知道你们没有放盐，但是可能因为肉是腌过的，所以对我来说还是太咸了。这不是你们的错，我仍然非常感谢你们对我的照顾（帮助）。

This translates into:

I know you did not add salt, but, possibly because the meat was pickled, it was still too salty for me. This is not your fault. I still thank you very much for the care you have shown me.

Hence, this is a polite and considerate way of addressing the issue.

Answer 2

I think you can say:

肉本身的味道就已經很鹹了

The taste of the meat itself was already very salty

or more politely

可能是肉本身的鹹味對我來說就已經太重了

Maybe the taste of the meat itself was too salty for me

or if you want to emphasize it's not her fault

可能是肉在調味前的鹹味就已經很重了

Maybe the taste of the meat was already very salty before seasoning

Answer 3

Do you want to say "The bean is okay but the meat is salty" ?

How about "豆很棒, 肉太咸" / "豆很棒, 可是肉有點咸" / "豆很棒, 可是肉的咸味重了點(兒)" ?

When you tell them the difference between the two main ingredients, they will know how to improve the dish for you. ^__^

Edit: Also, it is more polite to express your feeling on the dish, than to comment on their preparation process.

Answer 4

It seems more about courtesy than translation. I know you don't want to give her the impression that you are blaming her for something you didn't declared in advance. If you plan to go back to the same restaurant, I suggest you discuss with her beforehand how the dish would be prepared in more details. You can ask her "Is the meat preserved in salt?(这肉是用盐腌的吗？)", "Is the hot peppers preserved in salt?(辣椒是用盐腌的吗？)", "Does the seasoning itself contain salt? (调料里有盐吗？)" and so on. If she answered "yes", you can say "Oh, I want something less salty. Do you have fresh meat not preserved in salt?". Dicussing this before the dish was cooked is not offensive. You are just telling her your special need.